Signed in December, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 instructs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to launch the Physician Voluntary Reporting Program, which financially rewards physicians for providing quality care to Medicare patients with chronic conditions. Payment incentives will be based on reported quality measures from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2007. CMS is currently consulting with its Office of General Counsel to accurately interpret the law and develop the operational details of the program.

"Participating physicians must choose three core measures, and then report on each health outcome for 80 percent of the patients who have that illness," says Ronald Bangasser, MD, chair of the California Medical Association pay-for-performance technical advisory committee and a consultant for the CMA Council on Quality Care. "In return, physicians will receive a 1.5 percent reimbursement increase on all of their patients."

In March, CMA leaders will meet with CMS Acting Administrator Leslie Norwalk and San Francisco Regional Administrator Jeff Flick to ensure physicians have input on the implementation of the reporting program.
Members of American Medical Association Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement will continue to provide recommendations on this project as well. The AMA group has long been committed to the development, testing and maintenance of evidence-based clinical performance measures nationwide.

"The CMA wants to ensure that the 1.5 percent increase will be worth the time, effort and cost that physicians will spend to participate," says Dr. Bangasser, who serves in the AMA consortium as well. "We are also requesting that CMS utilize a reporting mechanism that enables all types of physicians, including specialists, to be involved, and allows for paper reporting as well as electronic reporting."

For future updates on the reporting program, visit the CMS Web site at www.cms.hhs.gov/PVRP.