Hospitalists Encouraged to Embrace Medicare’s VBPM Program Now
“Hospitalists can say, ‘If my hospital does well on these measures, that’s a reflection of my contribution as well, so we can count these measures for our value-based modifier,’” he says. “Those are promising pathways to more options for hospitalists.”
Dr. Torcson urges physicians to lobby their local federal officials and Medicare contacts to ensure that when all hospitalists are subject to the VBPM, the most accurate metrics available are used to gauge their quality of care delivery.
“Ideally, for a hospital medicine practice to be measured and have relevant outcomes, it would have to include performance measures that address things like transitions of care, medication reconciliation, patient safety, efficiency, and use of resources,” he says. “We’re really in the infancy of the methodology and performance measurement world of having relevant measures that do address those specific things. That’s on our hospitalist wish list.”
Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.
What Can I Do Now?
SHM has lobbied federal officials for changes to CMS’ Value-Based Payment Modifier Program, and will continue to do so. But here are tips individual providers can use now:
- Make sure your group is participating in PQRS. While that might sound commonplace, CMS data showed that in 2010, roughly 25% of eligible providers were participating in PQRS’ optional predecessor, the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
- Find out how your workplace handles its billing. If your billing is submitted with other specialties and physicians from inside the institution, you might be in a group of 100 eligible providers. If so, your compliance with PQRS measures this year will determine your payment adjustment in 2015.
- Pay attention to Medicare’s QRUR. 2013 is the first year all physicians will receive the report, which was launched last year as a pilot program in just nine states. The reports essentially rank providers based on cost and quality of care, and can be skewed for hospitalists as the measures don’t necessarily take into account that hospitalists often care for the acutely ill. SHM has lobbied CMS to improve the reports so they are more accurate in relation to HM services, but the more examples SHM can provide, the more weight the argument will likely hold.
