As the requirements for the PQRS program become more stringent, and particularly, as claims-based measures related to anesthesia continue to diminish, more providers may be interested in participating in PQRS through the new Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) option.
The National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR), maintained by the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI), has been designated as a QCDR by CMS for PQRS reporting. NACOR is the only anesthesia QCDR. Through AQI, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) now offers ASA QCDR, a PQRS reporting service powered by NACOR, to all eligible professionals (EPs).
According to AQI, requirements for individual eligible providers for their program are as follows:
- Be a member of ASA or purchase reporting through ASA.
- Be a National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) participant. Steps include: 1.) completion of a Business Associate Agreement with the AQI, 2.) payment of any necessary fees. AQI participation is free to ASA members and any EPs working with them in the care team model, 3.) completion of the AQI practice profile, including the national provider identifiers of all EPs in the group, and 4.) transmission of electronic data to the registry (including the necessary measure codes) early in 2015.
- Self-nominate with AQI for QCDR reporting early in 2015.
- Work with AQI for QCDR reporting early in 2015.
- Attend regular phone calls/meetings to ensure that AQI is receiving the proper data.
- Sign off on the regular monthly data reports that AQI will send to the practice.
- Approve the final transmission of EP performance data to CMS.
Through QCDR, providers must successfully report 9 measures including 2 outcomes measures. However, anesthesiologists using the ASA QCDR are able to report measures designated by the ASA and are not limited to measures in the PQRS program. As well, the cross-cutting measures and MAV do not apply for QCDR.
Keep in mind, however, that even though the QCDR reporting option is available only to individual providers through CMS, AQI requires entire groups to participate.With that said, individual anesthesiologists who comprise a group of one are eligible.
CIPROMS will be piloting participation with the ASA QCDR for 2015 with one anesthesia client with hopes of assisting other clients in this reporting mechanism in the future.
For more information about the ASA QCDR, email AQI at qcdr@asahq.org or visit theirQCDR web page.
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