by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 22, 2015 | Quality Payment Program
On April 29th, CMS released the 2013 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Experience Report. The PQRS/eRx Experience Report is released by CMS annually and provides trends on participation, incentive eligibility,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 15, 2015 | Miscellaneous Musings, Quality Payment Program
On Mondays in the month of June I am focusing on the way that quality measures will be used to evaluate practitioner performance inside and outside a healthcare organization, including compensation packages and contracted rates with payers. Last month, CMS released...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 8, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
Last week I talked about the way that quality measures are now being used as part of physician compensation packages. Reimbursement based, in part, on patient satisfaction is around the corner. How are wound care clinicians going to handle that? We had better start...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 25, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
Last month, on April 15, CMS issued a proposed rule [CMS-1622-P] outlining 2016 Medicare payment rates for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The policies set out in the rule would continue the shift in Medicare payments from “volume to value” that is being...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 19, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
I wonder how many “eligible providers” are doing point of care documentation? That means in the room with the patient. To reap the benefits of health care information technology, you have to do point of care documentation. You need to use electronic prescribing so...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 18, 2015 | Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
For the past two Mondays in May, I have been talking about the new incentive payment program that will determine how Eligible Professionals (EPs) are paid, referred to as the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Last week I told you that MIPS would be based on...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 11, 2015 | Quality Payment Program
Last week I talked about the passage of legislation that finally got rid of the annual “Doc Fix” crisis, averting a 21% decrease in Medicare payments to eligible professionals by creating an incentive payment program referred to as the Merit-Based Incentive Payment...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 4, 2015 | Quality Payment Program
On Tuesday April 14th, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to permanently repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth-rate (SGR) formula for physician payment. The SGR would have required a staggering and obviously untenable 21% cut in Medicare physician payments to take...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Apr 14, 2015 | Quality Payment Program
If there is one message that came across loud and clear at the National Quality Forum, it is that “patient experience of care” is one of the primary ways that CMS wants to evaluate the care that providers render to patients. Not only is this compatible with the plan...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 30, 2015 | Do the Right Thing: Thoughts on Quality, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
I had given up on ever getting any wound care quality measures into PQRS. CMS wouldn’t consider measures without NQF endorsement, the NQF didn’t consider measures that were not in their specific categories (priorities that they get FROM CMS which also funds the work...
