Senators Suggest Enhancements to Physician Quality Reporting Initiative

In a recent letter to Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Ranking Member Charles Grassley outline their intentions for improving Medicare payments for physician services by better linking payment to the quality of care provided.  In the letter, Senators Baucus and Grassley identify enhancements to the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) that they believe will "substantially expedite the transformation of this payment system to one that better ensures high-quality, patient-centered care."  The enhancements include:

• use of National Quality Forum endorsed measures;
• reporting on quality measure groups that focus on the care of patients with chronic conditions;
• employing clinical databases to capture more complete information about physician quality; and
• encouraging a team-approach to chronic care by permitting quality reporting by group practices.