Radiologists Can Still Avoid Medicare Penalties for Not Participating in PQRS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) is transitioning from incentives for participating to penalties for noncompliance. However, groups with less than 100 eligible providers (EP) can still participate and avoid a penalty equaling 1.5 percent of their Medicare reimbursements. Group practices and individual physicians have multiple ways to comply and forego penalties to begin in 2015. Because 2013 is the first reporting year on which the PQRS penalty is based, CMS minimized reporting requirements. Providers – including diagnostic and interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear physicians – must now meet one of the following criteria: Conform to requirements for satisfactorily reporting PQRS measures and be incentive-eligible, either through a Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO) or as an individual EP EPs report at least one valid measure via claims, PQRS registry or through a qualified electronic health record (EHR) or report one valid measures group via claims or registry GPROs report one valid measure through a PQRS registry (GPRO registration deadline is Oct.18) GPROs and EPs elect to participate in the administrative claims-based reporting mechanism by Oct. 18 It may also not be too late to obtain the 2013 PQRS incentive payments equaling 0.5 percent of total allowable Medicare charges by using a CMS-certified PQRS Registry, even if you have not yet r...
Source: American College of Radiology - Category: Radiology Source Type: news