Medical group practices that participate in Medicare's quality reporting program incur additional administrative work and costs, according to new research by the Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).
According to MGMA, medical groups participating in Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) reported costs and burdens they have incurred:
· Approximately 35 percent indicated that they had to create an addendum to their "superbill" paperwork to capture information to report the quality codes;
· On average, practices assigned one employee to the administration and oversight of program reporting;
· Approximately 22 percent required additional staff support; and
· Seventeen percent had to increase staff salaries.
The study says respondents remain uncertain about how the reporting of the PQRI measures correlate with an improvement in patient outcomes. Additionally, respondents indicated low satisfaction with the information they receive about the PQRI.
