Rehab

PQRI update: The 2007 bonuses have arrived

Briefings on Outpatient Rehab: Reimbursement and Regulations, September 1, 2008

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Healthcare providers who participated in the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) received a total of more than $36 million in bonus payments, CMS announced in July. Providers who participated in the PQRI, a voluntary program that gives incentive payments to providers who report certain quality measures determined by CMS, should have received their bonuses by August. The average bonus for an individual professional was $600, and the largest payment, which went to a physician group practice, totaled more than $205,700, according to CMS.

Although PTs and OTs are eligible to participate in the PQRI, many opted not to take part in the program. According to CMS, more than 109,000 eligible professionals participated in the 2007 PQRI; however, the agency has not specified how many were PTs and OTs.

Rhea Cohn, PT, DPT, director of private payment policy and advocacy for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), says many APTA members are not participating in the PQRI because they don’t think the bonus, which is 1.5% of a provider’s total allowed Medicare charges, is enough to justify the additional work.

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