CMS News

The following information has been received by ANCO.


****CMS NEWS****
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Provider Communications Group will host a national provider conference call on the 2009 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). This toll-free call will take place from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m., EDT, on Thursday, August 20, 2009.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) made the PQRI program permanent, but only authorized incentive payments through 2010. Eligible professionals who meet the criteria for satisfactory submission of quality measures data for services furnished during the reporting period, January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009, will earn an incentive payment of 2.0 percent of their total allowed charges for Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) covered professional services furnished during that same period. The 2009 PQRI consists of 153 quality measures and 7 measures groups.

The topics covered on this national provider call will include:

Status of the 2007 re-run and 2008 PQRI Incentive payments and feedback reports;
How to access the 2007 re-run and 2008 PQRI feedback reports; Resources to assist eligible professionals; and
Briefing on PQRI and eRx proposals for 2010 contained in the 2010 PFS proposed rule.
A PowerPoint slide presentation will be posted to the PQRI webpage at, http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI, on the CMS website for you to download prior to the call so that you can follow along with the presenter.

Following this presentation, the lines will be opened to allow participants to ask questions of CMS PQRI subject matter experts.

Educational products are available on the PQRI dedicated web page located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI , on the CMS website, in the Educational Resources section, section, as well as educational products are available on the e-prescribing dedicated web page located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ERxIncentive. Feel free to download the resources prior to the call so that you may ask questions of the CMS presenters.

Conference call details:

Date: 8/20/2009
Conference Title: 2009 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative National Provider Call
Time: 2:30 p.m. EDT

In order to receive the call-in information, you must register for the call. It is important to note that if you are planning to sit in with a group, only one person needs to register to receive the call-in data. This registration is solely to reserve a phone line, NOT to allow participation.

Registration will close today at 2:30 p.m. EDT, or when available space has been filled. No exceptions will be made, so please be sure to register prior to this time.

To register for the call participants need to go to: http://www2.eventsvc.com/palmettogba/082009

Fill in all required data.

Verify your time zone is displayed correctly the drop down box.

Click "Register".

You will be taken to the “Thank you for registering” page and will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter. Note: Please print and save this page, in the event that your server blocks the confirmation emails. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please check your spam/junk mail filter as it may have been directed there.

For those of you who will be unable to attend, a transcript of the call will be available at least one week after the call at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/pqri on the CMS website.

If you require services for the hearing impaired please send an email to: Medicare.TTT@PalmettoGBA.com.