On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA). Section 101 under Title I authorizes the establishment of a physician quality reporting system by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) establishes a financial incentive for eligible professionals to participate in a voluntary quality-reporting program. To participate in the 2007 PQRI, physicians and other eligible professionals, as defined by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA), should begin by reviewing the detailed 2007 PQRI Quality Measure Specifications and selecting measures applicable to their patient panels. The eligible professionals should then report the selected measures by submitting the specified quality-data codes on claims for services paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and provided between July 1 and December 31, 2007.

Eligible professionals need not enroll or file an intent to participate for the PQRI. The complete list of eligible professionals is included on the CMS Web site. These professionals can participate by reporting the appropriate quality measure data on claims submitted to their Medicare claims processing contractor. In order to satisfactorily meet the requirements of the program and receive the bonus payment, certain reporting thresholds must be met.

For additional information on the PQRI, including a list of Frequently Asked Questions and the final detailed specifications for the 74 measures included in the PQRI, visit the CMS Web site at www.cms.gov/pqri.

For additional resources, please visit the PQRI Documents and Links sections.