title: Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS): quality measurement and beneficiary attribution.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore two issues that are relevant to inclusion of PQRS reporting in a value-based payment system: (1) what are the characteristics of PQRS reports and the providers who file them; and (2) could PQRS provide active attribution information to supplement existing attribution algorithms?
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from five states for the years 2008 (the first full year of the program) and 2009, we examined the number and type of providers who reported PQRS measures and the types of measures that were reported. We then compared the PQRS reporting provider to the provider who supplied the plurality of the beneficiary's non-hospital evaluation and management (NH-E&M) visits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although PQRS-reporting providers provide only 17 percent of the beneficiary's NH-E&M visits on average in 2009, the provider who provided the plurality of visits supplied only 50 percent of such visits, on average.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PQRS reporting alone cannot solve the attribution problem that is inherent in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, but as PQRS participation increases, it could help improve both attribution and information regarding the quality of health care services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dowd
authors.affiliation: Healthcore, Incorporated: Wilmington, Delaware.
authors.forename: Chia-hsuan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Tami
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Swenson
authors.affiliation: Simmons College: Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coulam
authors.affiliation: Independent Consultant.
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
keywords: Medicare; PQRS; attribution; payment; physician; value