We should never throw out the baby with the bathwater. In other words CMS’ Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) sounds like a good idea, but if it is poorly implemented and physicians don't participate, it doesn't make the idea a bad one.



Here is a pro and con analysis of PQRI.



My patients are pretty young so we don't have an interest in participating in any Medicare program. I learn from the 'con' piece that a 1.5% increase is all that's available. In addition there are stumbling blocks on the CMS side. They do not take advantages of EMR capabilities so reporting becomes a big bother for a small practice. The positive article, unsurprisingly is written by a medical executive with responsibility for a 150-physician group in the Midwest. With a high Medicare proportion in the payer mix, economies of scale can make 1.5% pretty significant, especially when one considers the process improvements required to hit your quality targets.