Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
The Centers for medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Quality Reporting Initiative Measure Finder Tool (Version 1.0) is designed to help eligible professionals and their coding/billing staff to quickly search for applicable measures and their detailed specifications. This tool will allow users to search for applicable measures based on a single code or a combination of codes.

The Use of Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agents in Cancer and Related Neoplastic Conditions
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking public comment on their proposed determination that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) treatment is not reasonable and necessary for beneficiaries with certain clinical conditions, either because of a deleterious effect of the ESA on their underlying disease or because the underlying disease increases their risk of adverse effects related to ESA use. Click here to read more of CMS proposed decision.

US Food and Drug Administration Health Advisory

Commentary on the CMS Proposed Ruling from Other Organizations

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to announce that three new educational resources have been posted on the CMS website.

The following items are available for download on the PQRI Educational Resources web page:

Coding for Quality—A Handbook for PQRI Participation
This handbook is a resource provided to facilitate PQRI implementation for successful reporting.

2007 PQRI Code Master
This Excel spreadsheet provides a sequential list of all ICD-9-CM (I9) and CPT^® (CPT4) codes with associated CPT II exclusion modifiers that are included in the 2007 PQRI.

2007 PQRI Fact Sheet
This Fact Sheet provides an overview of the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.

To access the new and all available educational resources, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI and scroll down to the “Downloads” section and click on the “Coding of Quality- A Handbook for PQRI Participation”, the “2007 PQRI Code Master”, and the “2007 PQRI Fact Sheet” links.

New Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) related to the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative. These include questions related to instances when Medicare is the secondary payer.

You can access these FAQs by visiting the PQRI webpage at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI/ and scroll down to the “Related Links Inside CMS” section and click on the link titled “All PQRI FAQs”.

PQRI Question of the Week

Question: Why should I participate in Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI)?

Answer: Eligible professionals will have the opportunity to use participation in the PQRI program to improve the care of the patients they serve through the evidence based measures that are based upon clinical guidelines.

Participating in PQRI is a way to prepare for future pay-for-performance programs.

Finally, the 1.5% bonus incentive is new money being made available to reward participating professionals.

Reference: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PQRI.