Medicare PQRI Pays Out $36 Million for 2007
Over $36 million in bonus payments were doled out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the Physician Reporting Quality Initiative (PQRI) 2007 period from July to December. Clinicians who received reimbursements met reporting requirements issued by the federal agency.
The average payment received by physician groups was more than $4,700 and over $600 for individuals practitioners. The largest incentive payment received by a single practice was more than $205,700. The two states with the highest incentive payments were Florida and Illinois; receiving payments over $3 and $2 million, respectively.
Over 109,000 different clinicians participated in the PQRI effort from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Over half of those were eligible to receive bonus payments
The goal of the PQRI initiative is to begin rewarding clinicians for the delivery of high quality care. CMS officials suggest that this program is the first step in beginning to reform the U.S. payer system by focusing on the delivery of high quality care rather than solely the amount of care delivered.
PQRI, a program launched in 2006 through an act of Congress, calls for bonus payments to clinicians who provide services under Medicare. Payments of up to 1.5 percent of total reimbursements are received from the federal agency. Clinicians are required to meet reporting requirements on quality to eligible.
July 16, 2008 Related topics: Finance, Quality, Safety, Errors