by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jun 15, 2017 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
In 2011, we published a paper entitled, “Why is it hard to do the right thing in wound care?” in which we documented that only 17% of venous ulcers were treated with adequate compression every time they were seen at a wound center. Those statistics were...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 13, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
I am explaining MIPS, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Although MIPS does not begin until 2017, 85% of the MIPS score is derived from performance in the 2 quality programs that clinicians should already be engaged in: Meaningful Use of an EHR (MU) and the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 5, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
I’m picking up where I’d left off before SAWC Spring – explaining MIPS, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Although MIPS does not begin until 2017, 85% of the MIPS score is derived from performance in the 2 quality programs that clinicians...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 17, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
For over a decade we had an annual crisis of uncertainty regarding Medicare physician payments. Under the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, physician reimbursement needed to be cut by at least 21% to keep the Medicare program from going under financially....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 17, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
We have less than two weeks in the deadline for Registry Reporting deadlines for 2016 Meaningful Use Stage 2 Objective 10 (February 29, 2016). But let’s not forget the preparation required in order to successfully pass Quality Reporting for PQRS. Below is a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 13, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
This year, Medicare begins to financially penalize clinicians who fail to succeed with quality programs. We are all in this together! The two critical programs are the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the Meaningful Use (MU) of an Electronic Health Record...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 6, 2016 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
2015 is the first year that CMS has distributed Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs) to all physicians in the USA. Made available in early September, the QRUR is a confidential report that reflects the quality and cost measure data collected by an eligible...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 22, 2015 | Cassandra Chronicles: Regulatory and Coverage Policy, Pressure Cooker: Rethinking Pressure Ulcers, Quality Payment Program, US Wound Registry
Selecting Measures Beginning in 2015, measure selection took on a whole new meaning. No longer was it “ok” to simply pick a few measures that your EHR could easily capture the data and send the results off to CMS. Where once you were paid for reporting, P4R, now with...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 21, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care, Quality Payment Program
What you need to know to achieve Success with PQRS While some of the background about PQRS is a review of preview posts, I have included the material so that you have all the basic information in one place and can use this as an easy reference about PQRS. I will do...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Dec 7, 2015 | Fight the Good Fight, Health Information Technology and Wound Care
The US healthcare “fee for service” payment system is rapidly transitioning away from one based on volume to one that is determined by “value” and which links cost to improved patient outcomes. The problem with the current system is that patients who stay in service...
