In March, we shared
results of the value-based modifier (VBM) program, which saw winners and losers in terms of 2016 payment rates. Practices that saw a big pay boost (up to +32%) clearly did well on their measures reporting -- and you can seize the opportunity to improve your bottom line as well.
The VBM program uses your physician quality reporting system (PQRS) data to calculate your practice's quality scores, and choosing the best measures to report is far and away "the most important thing" to gaining extra pay, noted Jeanne Chamberlin, practice management consultant with MSOC Health in Chapel Hill, N.C., in
the pages of Part B News (subscription required).
Use these tips to gain an upper hand in PQRS and VBM reporting:
Select the right measures so that you can gain the “highest performance rate possible,” advises Chamberlin. First, look to the CMS website, which offers 17 “preferred specialty measure sets” that serve as a baseline for your specialty-specific practice.
Visit the page – www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/pqrs/measurescodes.html – and locate the measure set for your specialty. There you’ll find a PDF with PQRS measures that align with your practice. For example, the dermatology preferred set lists PQRS measures 137 (Melanoma: Continuity of Care) and 224 (Melanoma: Overutilization of Imaging Studies in Melanoma), among others.
In short, focus on the measures that you perform often -- and that you know you perform well. That will ensure you're achieving high-quality scores and set you on the path to payment gains.