Specialists Notch Victory in New CMS Rule on Quality Reporting

Medicare has agreed to allow specialist medical societies to determine the quality measures physicians will report when the new reporting system goes into effect on Jan. 1.

The rule represents a major victory for the specialty societies, which had protested a common set of quality measures that many said favored primary care and family physicians over specialists. CMS in 2015 will begin imposing penalties on physicians who fail to report to one of these new "qualified clinical directories," which will satisfy requirements for participating in the agency's Physician Quality Reporting System.

Dr. Arthur Lerner, with Palm City, Fla.-based Technology Education Consulting in Healthcare, said the new rule creates more incentive for specialists to participate in PQRS and opportunities for them “to take control of the process”—a process that he said is currently geared toward only primary-care doctors.

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Source: Modern Healthcare