Medical group practices that participate in Medicare’s quality reporting program incur additional administrative work and costs, according to new research by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). The association collected responses from 190 members, representing more than 3,079 practicing physicians.
Of practices responding to an MGMA questionnaire, 11 percent participated in the Physician Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP), now called the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), and 44 percent are reporting measures for the PQRI. Approximately 35 percent of the respondents indicated that they had to create an addendum to their “superbill” paperwork to capture information to report the quality codes; approximately 22 percent required additional staff support; and 17 percent had to increase staff salaries.
However, only 13 percent of participants in the research rated the PQRI’s helpfulness to patients as good or excellent; 16 percent rated improvement of care outcomes as good or excellent. Additionally, respondents indicated low satisfaction with the information they receive about the PQRI. Read the press release.
