December 19, 2008 - GE Healthcare’s Medical Quality Improvement Consortium (MQIC) quality data system was selected by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) as a reporting registry for the 2008 program, and GE expects this registry certification to continue in 2009.
The initiative is designed to streamline quality reporting for Centricity EMR and Centricity Practice Solution customers that submit for eligible financial incentives through the MQIC registry.
As GE provides a combination of Centricity EMR and MQIC registry function, the addition of PQRI reporting collects and automates the reporting process as part of its standard patient documentation workflow. When physicians document encounters for qualified patients, the solution can capture PQRI measurement data with the option to automate CMS submission without additional administrative work. GE Healthcare’s solution is designed to allow customers practicing primary care, cardiology and endocrinology to participate in PQRI without the added overhead of submitting additional billing codes.
"Participating in pay-for-performance programs like PQRI would be beneficial to our practice, but historically we have had to weigh the effort with the potential payout,” said Richard Sadja, Chief Financial Officer, Family Practice of Glendale. “
PQRI is a voluntary program that provides financial incentives (1.5 percent of allowed charges) to physicians who successfully report on a specified set of quality measures for the services that they provide to patients under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. It was made permanent by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) legislation enacted in July 2008. In 2009, the incentive will increase to 2 percent.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com