Preview of new Physician Compare quality data now available

Monday, October 27, 2014 08:18 AM

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to phase-in public reporting of quality information on the Physician Compare website. The AMA reports that the agency plans to publish the next round of data in December, if technically feasible.

The information to be posted is only about group practices that participated in the 2013 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO) Web interface, including participants in the Medicare Shared Savings program. The 30-day period for previewing the measures is Oct. 6 - Nov. 7. Agency contractor Westat sent an email to the practices’ authorized representatives who submitted 2013 PQRS Web-interface measures, informing them of the 30-day preview period.

As specified in the 2013 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, the agency will be publicly reporting a subset of 2013 GPRO diabetes and coronary artery disease web-interface measures on Physician Compare. Specifically, the federal CMS is considering publishing three diabetes measures and one CAD measure.

The measure preview will be facilitated through the Provider Quality Information Portal. Physicians can send questions to the Physician Compare support team by emailing PhysicianCompare@Westat.com.