Endocrine Insider
March 6, 2008

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released July-November 2007 data on physician and medical professional participation in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). The PQRI is a project managed by CMS in which eligible professionals can earn up to a 1.5 percent bonus for reporting on quality measures. Of the physicians and medical professionals qualified to participate in the PQRI (as determined by the possession of a National Provider Identifier, or NPI number), approximately 16 percent chose to do so.

While more than 160,000 claims were eligible for reporting of diabetes related measures, only 12,000-13,000 (7 to 8 percent) were actually submitted to the PQRI program. Similarly, osteoporosis measures saw low reporting percentages. Reporting on measure number 24—communicating with the physician managing ongoing care post fracture—was particularly low at only 0.92 percent of eligible claims. PQRI reporting on measure number 41—pharmacologic therapy for osteoporosis—occurred on only 3.4 percent of eligible claims.

CMS staff has expressed satisfaction at the number of physicians and medical professionals who participated in the program in 2007, as the program was only operational for a portion of the year and fewer measures were eligible for reporting than will be eligible this year. CMS anticipates higher reporting percentages in 2008.