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Doctors can earn 2 percent Medicare bonus in as little as two days

DocSite announced that its DocSite PQRI solution has been selected for the second year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as an approved Qualified Registry for the 2009 Physician’s Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) Registry Program. With more money available in 2009 through PQRI, DocSite PQRI provides physicians with a simple, effective and affordable way to qualify for incentive payments up to $4,000. DocSite PQRI not only helps physicians meet their Medicare bonus, but also helps improve healthcare costs and quality of care.

“After two years of seminars, online courses and many printed manuals to research the various solutions out there, DocSite is the answer to our PQRI submission dilemma,” said Tina Swenson, director of medical billing and credentialing for SunStar Geriatrics Healthcare. “DocSite PQRI is easy, fast and user-friendly. But perhaps most importantly it provides us with a simple process – in an otherwise complicated industry – for submitting PQRI data to collect even greater incentive payments in 2009, which also helps in offering quality care for our patients."

In April 2008, CMS established the Alternative Reporting Methods. This simplified PQRI reporting requirements, authorizing sanctioned registries to use clinical data instead of complicated administrative codes for patient tracking and data submission. The PQRI process that used to take an entire year to complete, and often involved adopting a complex coding system, can now be completed in as little as two days with DocSite PQRI.

Under the Alternative Reporting Methods and Criteria for PQRI, physicians simply need to ask four to nine questions of 30 consecutive patients – only two of which need to be Medicare Part B patients – who have one of the following conditions or measure groups: prevention, diabetes, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, perioperative, CABG or chronic kidney disease. DocSite PQRI allows physicians to gather this information using data collection forms during an office visit, or by entering patient information into the online registry. Additionally, DocSite PQRI can be used equally well in paper-based practices or ones using an EMR system.

“In the past, many physicians did not participate in PQRI because they thought it was too complex and time-consuming to track and collect the data,” said John Haughton, M.D., M.S. DocSite Founder and CEO. “We analyzed the reporting requirements under the Alternative Reporting Methods and designed DocSite PQRI to allow qualified healthcare providers to earn the incentive bonus in the most simple, cost-effective way available.”

For selection as a Qualified Registry for 2009, DocSite participated in a detailed approval process. CMS conducted an analysis of the registry, checking DocSite’s capability to provide the required PQRI data elements; reviewing a measure flow, which checks to see whether the registry calculates the measure’s reporting and performance rates correctly; and transmitting the required information via an XML transmission.

There is no up-front cost for subscribing to DocSite PQRI. Physicians are alerted once they have satisfied the data requirements and a fee is paid to DocSite at the time of submission. Medicare will issue incentive payments to qualified physicians in the summer or fall of 2010. To learn more about DocSite PQRI, visit www.docsite.com/pqri.

About DocSite, LLC
DocSite (www.docsite.com) is a clinical integration, connectivity and point-of-care technology company offering modular, upgradeable, Web-based tools that immediately improve the quality of care and save clinicians time. DocSite solutions give practitioners affordable, easy-to-use tools tied to evidence-based guidelines that reduce practice variation, enhance communication and support patient self-care initiatives. Thousands of physicians across the nation have already embraced DocSite products as the solution of choice for over 3 million patients. DocSite is endorsed by the Texas Medical Association and has been highlighted as a leader in chronic disease management systems/registries by the Physicians’ Foundation for Health Systems Excellence. The firm works in partnership with independent practice associations, groups, health plans, hospitals and individual physicians to offer point-of-care, outcomes tracking, population warehouse and informed decision-making tools.

Source: DocSite