(CMS: Baltimore, Maryland) -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking steps to encourage physicians and other eligible professionals to take part in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), a program designed to improve the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. These steps, including a variety of new reporting options, will make it easier for eligible professionals to participate and receive feedback on their performance.

“By providing more opportunities to submit information about the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries, we will ultimately improve the services provided to our beneficiaries,” says CMS acting administrator, Kerry Weems. “The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative puts an emphasis on measuring and improving the performance of the health care system to reduce inappropriate care and encourage best practices in care.”

Implemented in 2007, the PQRI creates a quality reporting system that includes an incentive payment for satisfactorily reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. The PQRI was originally authorized by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.

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