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Analysis and Payment

Incentive Payments

Eligible professionals who satisfactorily report quality-measures data for services furnished during a PQRI reporting period are eligible to earn an incentive payment equal to a percentage of the eligible professional's estimated total allowed charges for covered Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services provided during the reporting period. 

Below are the authorized incentive payment amounts for each program year:

• 2007 PQRI – 1.5% subject to a cap;
• 2008 PQRI – 1.5%;
• 2009 PQRI – 2.0%; and
• 2010 PQRI – 2.0%.

Incentive payments for each program year are issued separately as a single consolidated incentive payment in the following year. Incentive payments are issued to the first valid group location listed under the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN); or, for solo practitioners, to the first valid practice location listed under the TIN. The Carrier or A/B MAC will make the payment electronically or via check, based on how the TIN normally receives payment for Medicare Part B PFS covered professional services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries. If a TIN submits claims to multiple Medicare claims-processing contractors (Carriers or A/B MACs), each contractor may be responsible for a proportion of the TIN incentive payment equivalent to the proportion of Medicare Part B PFS claims the contractor processed during the applicable reporting period. (Note: If splitting an incentive across contractors would result in any contractor issuing a PQRI incentive payment less than $20 to the TIN, the incentive will be issued by fewer contractors than may have processed PFS from the TIN for the reporting period). The PQRI incentive payment can be offset by an outstanding debt for the TIN. 

The incentive payment, with the remittance advice, will be issued by Carrier or A/B MAC and identified as a lump-sum PQRI incentive payment. The electronic remittance advice sends only a 2-character code ("LS" – lump sum). This code will appear in PLB03-1 on the outgoing 835. The paper remittance advice states, "This is a PQRI incentive payment."

Once we begin distributing incentive payments for a particular program year and your lump-sum incentive does not arrive or the incentive payment amount does not match what is reflected in your PQRI feedback report, contact your Carrier or A/B MAC (click on the "Help Desk Support" link at left for contact information). Note: The incentive amount may differ by a penny or two from what is reflected in your feedback report due to rounding.

PQRI Feedback Reports

Each year, the PQRI incentive payment and the PQRI feedback report are issued through separate processes (click on the appropriate "PQRI Program" link at left for information specific to a particular program year). PQRI feedback report availability is not based on whether or not an incentive payment was earned. Feedback reports will be available for every TIN under which at least one eligible professional (identified by his or her National Provider Identifier, or NPI) submitting Medicare Part B PFS claims reported at least one valid PQRI measure a minimum of once during the reporting period. To view a sample feedback report, see the document titled "Feedback Report Examples", which is available in the "Downloads" section below.

PQRI participants will not receive claim-level details in the feedback reports.

2010 PQRI

New! January 1, 2010 – March 31, 2010 QDC Error Reports by Specialty 

This report, which is available in the "Download" section below, contains information about the quality data codes submitted between January 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010, by specialty.

January 1, 2010 – March 31, 2010 Aggregated QDC Error Reports by Measure 

This report, which is available in the "Download" section below, contains aggregate-level information about the quality data codes submitted between January 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010, by measure.

For information on how the 2010 PQRI measure-applicability validation will be implemented, see the document titled "2010 PQRI Measure-Applicability Validation Process for Claims-Based Reporting of Individual Measures" and the "2010 PQRI Measure-Applicability Validation Process – Release Notes", which are available in the "Downloads" section below. Additionally, see the document titled "2010 Measure-Applicability Validation Process Flow Chart", which is also available in the "Downloads" section below.

Downloads

2010 1st Quarter QDC Error Report by Specialty 1/1/10 to 03/31/10 [PDF 237KB]

2010 Aggregate QDC Error Report by Measure 1/1/10 to 03/31/10 [PDF 350KB]

2010 PQRI Measure Applicability Validation Process for Claims-Based Reporting of Individual Measures [ZIP 142KB]

2010 PQRI Measure-Applicability Validation Process – Release Notes [ZIP 64KB]

2010 Measure-Applicability Validation Process Flow Chart [ZIP 173KB]

Feedback Report Examples [ZIP 403 KB]
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Page Last Modified: 08/18/2010 3:12:36 PM
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