MINNEAPOLIS, June 25, 2009 - MN Community Measurement is making it easier for physicians to participate in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS) program, called the Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) that pays bonuses to doctors who report quality data.

Eligible professionals can earn an incentive payment of 2.0 percent of their total allowed charges for Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) covered professional services during 2009. The MMA is a founding member of MN Community Measurement.

One way physicians can participate is to submit their data to MN Community Measurement. The advantage of this is that no G-codes are necessary. Instead, practices can just submit their raw data to MN Community Measurement, which takes care of the rest. The cost is $120 per physician.

MN Community Measurement started offering this service last year and has expanded its program to include 14 PQRI measures this year.

PQRI submission timeline:
July 2009 – The official PQRI registry guide will be available July 15
August 1 – 2009 PQRI registration opens
October 2009 – Phase 1 data submission begins (data submitted for the first three quarters of 2009)
January 2010 – Phase 2 data submission begins (for fourth quarter 2009)

To learn more, here is a brochure about the MN Community Measurement PQRI program.