Physician Quality Reporting Initiative

On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA). Section 101 under Title I authorizes the establishment of a physician quality reporting system by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has titled the statutory program the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

PQRI establishes a financial incentive for eligible professionals to participate in a voluntary quality reporting program. Eligible professionals who successfully report a designated set of quality measures on claims for dates of service in 2009 may earn a bonus payment, subject to a cap, of 2.0 percent of total allowed charges for covered Medicare physician fee schedule services. For 2008, the bonus payment was 1.5 percent.

PQRI Quality Measures

The 2009 PQRI consists of 153 quality measures and 7 measures groups. More information on these and other helpful PQRI documents may be downloaded from the CMS PQRI Measures/Codes Web page.  

The 134 quality measures for 2008 may be accessed at PQRI measures for 2008. CMS has also made available the final specifications for the 2008 PQRI measures (you may need to accept the license agreement for access). Also helpful may be the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

For More Information

For more information on PQRI, visit the CMS Web site. Included is a page that is specifically devoted to Educational Resources.

These Web pages will be updated regularly, so check often for timely and reliable information from CMS.