Participating in Medicare’s
Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) has taken on a new flavor this
year. While until now participating has meant a potential annual bonus
of several thousand dollars, not reporting in 2013 will entail
a penalty in 2015. Losing out on a bonus is less galling than
forfeiting a percentage of each remittance. No anesthesiologist, CRNA
or pain physician is doomed to lose money for failing to report the
applicable PQRS measure(s). This Alert will provide a reminder of the
steps you need to take to earn the bonus and to avoid future penalties.
It is a testament to the
undue complexity of the program that we are now in its seventh year, and
yet uncertainty lingers. As a reminder, the incentive payments and
“payment adjustments” for each year are as follows:
YearPayment/AdjustmentMadeReporting YearPayment or (Adjustment)
200820071.5%2009 20081.5%
201020092.0%
201120102.0%
201220111.0%
201320120.5%
201420130.5%
201520140.5%
20152013(1.5%)
2016 onward2014 onward(2.0%)
...
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