Senate Finance Committee Members Call for CMS Collaboration on Quality Reporting Plans
CMS should work with various health groups to implement provisions of the new Medicare physician reporting initiative, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a letter sent last week to acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems, CQ HealthBeat reports. The two lawmakers suggested that CMS' collaboration with the National Quality Forum, the American Medical Association's Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, and other groups and officials would "ensure the most meaningful measures are available" for the initiative.The initiative is part of legislation signed by President Bush last month that delays a scheduled Medicare physician fee cut for six months (CQ HealthBeat, 1/25). The law also increases Medicare physician fees by 0.5% during that period and extends several programs that provide higher Medicare reimbursement rates to rural health care providers and hospital laboratories. In addition, the law extends for six months rural and low-income subsidies, as well as payments for rehabilitative therapy under Medicare (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/17).
According to Baucus and Grassley, the law's physician reporting provisions "are designed to address existing shortcomings" in the current version of the Medicare physician quality reporting program and to "encourage broader participation by physicians and other eligible professionals, and move toward our long-term vision for a valid, consumer-friendly mechanism for measuring and rewarding the quality of care that clinicians provide."
The law also extends 1.5% payment incentives for physicians reporting quality measures in 2008 and removes a cap on calculation of incentive payments for reporting in 2008 and 2009. Baucus and Grassley wrote that they plan to "move legislation that would extend incentive payments for 2009 and future years in order to continue making progress toward aligning Medicare payments more closely with the quality of care provided" (CQ HealthBeat, 1/25). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
