In the May 5 issue of Part B News, readers were informed of a congressional mandate to give practitioners a second chance to receive part of the 1.5 percent Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) program bonus. Many practitioners thought their opportunity was lost when they did not initiate a quality reporting program at the beginning of the year—making it difficult to reach the annual 80 percent reporting threshold for the bonus. However, according to a recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) PQRI conference call, starting July 1, physicians will have the opportunity to participate in an alternative claims-based PQRI program allowing them to become eligible for the bonus.

Physician in four groups of measures—Diabetes Mellitus, End Stage Renal Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, and Preventive Care—will be eligible. They must report measures for 15 consecutive Medicare Part B patients within each applicable measure group. Medicare will issue a 1.5 percent bonus to participating practitioners based on all of the services they provide to Part B patients from July 1 to December 31, 2008.

Additional information on how to report and examples of what to report can be found on CMS’ PQRI website.