If you are a group practice with 100+ eligible professionals (EPs), TODAY (Friday, October 18) is the deadline to: (1) elect your Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) reporting mechanism for CY 2013, and (2) elect quality tiering to calculate the value-based purchasing modifier (VBM) for CY 2015. Both can be accomplished through https://portal.cms.gov. If the group does not elect its reporting mechanism by the end of the day, it will take a 1% VBM reduction in 2015.
If you are a group practice with fewer than 100 EPs, TODAY is the deadline to elect the PQRS group practice reporting option (GPRO). This can be accomplished through https://portal.cms.gov. Groups that elect and submit data through GPRO (regardless of the number of EPs in the group) will receive the 1% PQRS bonus payment for CY 2013 and avoid the 1.5% PQRS negative payment adjustment in 2015.
If the group does not elect GPRO reporting by the end of the day, the group’s EPs will have to report individually to avoid the 1.5% PRQS negative payment adjustment in 2015. Those EPs who wish to rely on administrative claims data for his or her PQRS reporting also must register by the end of the day through the aforementioned portal. Claims-based reporting avoids the 1.5% penalty in 2015, but the individual EP will not be eligible for the 1% bonus for 2013. Once registered for claims-based reporting, the EP does not have to take any additional action.
If an EP in a group that does not elect GPRO reporting does not register for claims-based reporting by the end of the day, the only option for that EP to avoid the 1.5% PQRS negative payment adjustment in 2015 is to report data individually through a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved registry. Those EPs who report through a registry also will receive the 1% PQRS bonus for 2013. An EP who intends to use registry reporting does not have to submit any registration today.
More information regarding today’s deadline and the PQRS program in general is available here.
If you have additional questions about PQRS reporting, contact the experts listed below at PYA, (800) 270-9629.
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