Debt may sink your quality incentive program bonus check

by Charles Fiegl on Jan 28, 2011
Have you found that your quality reporting bonus checks are lower than you expected?
 
CMS says your incentive payments from the Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program are subject to offsets. The agency explains that it may reduce quality program bonus payments for any outstanding debt linked to your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
 
Also, you may find your bonus check is broken into smaller pieces when you file claims with multiple carriers. Each carrier would be responsible for paying a bonus “equivalent to the proportion of Medicare Part B [physician fee for service] claims the contractor processed during the applicable reporting period,” CMS says. But a carrier would not have to pay a bonus when splitting the incentive for a provider results in that  carrier issuing a check that’s less than $20, CMS adds.
Blog Tags: CMS, fee schedule
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