Medicare is attempting to simplify the requirements of a new voluntary reporting system that physicians claim is too burdensome.

Under the latest revision from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, physicians participating in the Physician Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP) will have only 16 measures to choose to report on instead of 36. CMS also is working to revise the program's reporting system to provide more options for physicians.

Primary care groups opposed CMs' decision to collect clinical data through a set of Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes or G codes—a system most physicians do not use. The agency is working with the American Medical Association to add the option to use CPT II codes as well as G codes, CMS spokesman Peter Ashkenaz told this newspaper. “This will provide clinicians with the flexibility of utilizing either G codes or CPT II codes” for the program, he said.

The 16 starter measures address a wide spectrum of clinical care, including administration of aspirin at arrival for acute myocardial infarction; control of lipids, blood pressure, and glycosylated hemoglobin for patients with diabetes; and assessment of fall risk in elderly patients.

The 20 measures removed from the original set won't necessarily be thrown out. In a fact sheet, CMS said it intended to pursue further development of those and other measures suggested by physician groups.

Reactions to the changes varied. Dr. C. Anderson Hedberg, president of the American College of Physicians, called the revisions “critically important.” As reporting and pay-for-performance programs become more widespread, “uniformity and a realistic set of measures that don't create huge administrative reporting burdens are essential for physician acceptance and the success of any quality improvement and measurement program.”

Any simplification of reporting is welcome, Dr. Larry Fields, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, noted in an interview. Yet “this is still a voluntary program with no immediate benefit to patients or physicians.”

In light of the 4.4% cut in physician pay that went into effect Jan. 1, physicians “will be even less able to comply with any reporting, voluntary or not,” Dr. Fields said. Without a positive incentive to participate, “I expect that CMs' announcement will be met with indifference.”

At a meeting of Medicare's Practicing Physicians Advisory Council (PPAC) held before the changes were announced, several physicians said the program would be a hassle for them to implement. For instance, PPAC chair Dr. Ronald Castellanos said it would cost him $15,000 to make the necessary changes in his practice to accommodate the program.

“I'm going to have to redesign my workflow between the clinical and office buildings, change the clearinghouse software, and change the software I use to send things to other providers” and to CMS, he said. “I had [a company] give me an estimate, and it's about $15,000. That's a lot of money to do a voluntary program.”

In return for submitting data to the program, physicians get a report telling them how well they did on each measure within their own patient population, as well as a comparison of their performance with that of other physicians regionally and nationally. Although physicians do not need to register with CMS to submit data, they must register to receive the reports.

Dr. Michael Rapp, director of the quality measurement and health assessment group at CMS, said that although there was no money attached to the reporting process, “We want to make it beneficial to physicians.” The reports are one way of doing that, but CMS would welcome any other ideas, he added.

Council member Dr. Peter Grimm, a radiation oncologist in Seattle, asked why hospitals receive a 0.4% payment incentive to report data under another reporting program, but physicians do not. “What is the rationale for that? Doctors don't need [the money], or hospitals deserve it more?”

Dr. Trent Haywood, a deputy chief medical officer at CMS, said that when the hospital reporting program started in 2002, hospitals didn't get paid either—that started later on.

Council member Dr. Laura Powers, a Knoxville neurologist, said outcomes measures wouldn't work well in a practice such as hers, where many patients have terminal illnesses. “I take care of patients who are going to die no matter what you do, but I have to make sure their quality of life is better for however long they have to live. That's why we need to have process measures.”

The council passed a resolution noting that because the voluntary reporting program will require additional staff, training on use of G codes, and reconfiguration of computer program, “PPAC advises that any effort at implementing quality measures and reporting must come after physician payment reform and a reduction in current regulatory and administrative demands. Otherwise, efforts to improve care will be impeded.”

The council also passed a resolution asking that CMS seek comments from the appropriate specialty societies regarding the issues raised by the voluntary reporting program, “and, like the hospital program, pay for data collection.”

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