Medicare Expands Participation Options For Physician Quality Reporting System For 2014

For 2014, Medicare is expanding physician participation options for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) to collect data from more eligible professionals delivering Medicare Part B services. Medicare seeks to use the PQRS data to develop physician quality rankings and by 2016 to launch value-based reimbursement for Medicare Part B services. PQRS launched in 2006 and to encourage participation, eligible professionals who submitted data to PQRS received a payment increase. However, in 2011, only 27% of eligible professionals submitted data to PQRS. Starting in 2015, eligible professionals who do not submit PQRS data will receive lower Medicare reimbursement rates . . .