On June 11, 2010, CMS issued a transmittal containing the first two chapters of a new Manual.  The Manual is Pub. 100-22 and is titled "Medicare Quality Reporting Incentive Programs".  The Manual addresses the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) and E-Prescribing (eRx) Medicare Quality Reporting Incentive Programs.  The Manual does not establish new requirements for the PQRI and eRx programs.  It simply manualizes existing requirements to the programs. 

Are you participating in this important program?  We've updated Code Explorer in Coding & Revenue Resource Center and Audit & Revenue Resource Center to make flagging PQRI codes a breeze.   The 2010 Specifications Manual contains details for each specific measure - simply click the GUIDANCE link from Code Explorer to see which measures any particular code falls into and tunnel in for details.  Access the 2010 PQRI&nbsp

Members of both the House and the Senate have released draft summaries or draft legislative language for comprehensive health care reform legislation. Staff members of three House committees -- Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor – released a three-page summary of a possible health care reform bill that includes a public insurance option, insurance market reforms, and insurance premium support for families up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

One of the provisions of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009'," signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009, that has received a lot of often negative attention in some parts of the media relates to "comparative effectiveness research."

CMS and Congress will be focusing more on regulatory compliance matters in 2009 than they have in years, according to Brian Flood, managing director at KPMG. "You have a lot of activity going on in the next six months," he said during a recent American Bar Association teleconference.