Medicare e-prescribing hardship exemptions under review

Jan. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- Columbia, MO – Some Missouri physicians last fall sought hardship exemptions to avoid penalties for failing to successfully participate in Medicare’s e-prescribing program. Primaris, the official Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for the state, today announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to review each hardship exemption request on an individual basis, but has not completed its analysis. Due to this backlog, some physicians may receive a 1-percent Medicare payment penalty inappropriately until each request is reviewed. Ultimately, CMS will reprocess the claims.

Primaris is your complete resource for straight forward and easy to understand PQRS information in Missouri. CMS has hired Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) to provide free assistance to eligible professionals in reporting Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS).

As the federally designated QIO for Missouri, Primaris has helped hundreds of providers measure and improve care, using their EHR as an essential tool in the process. CMS is aligning quality measures for many initiatives, including PQRS, Patient-Centered Medical Homes, the EHR Incentive program (i.e., Meaningful Use), Accountable Care Organizations, and others.

For More Information Contact:
Sandy Pogones
Program Manager Physician Services
800.735.6776
spogones@primaris.org
http://www.pqrsmo.org