NEW CLINICAL STUDIES/PUBLICATIONS

Physical Quality Reporting Initiative

The second year of Physical Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) is set to begin on January 1, 2008, and has been extended through December 31, 2008, by the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007. As directed by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, CMS implemented a voluntary reporting system for 2007 for physicians and other health care providers. Since July 1, 2007, Participants in PQRI may earn up to 1.5% of their total allowed charges, subject to a cap. CMS publishes 148 PQRI quality measures for 2008 including detailed specifications, which will include instructions on reporting and identify the circumstances in which each measure is applicable. These measures and specifications were scheduled to be made available on the CMS web site at www.cms.hs.gov/pqri no later than December 31, 2007.