Summer 2007 CME Meeting Pictures

Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative
The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) began on July 1 and runs until December 31, 2007. Physicians who report the applicable measures in at least 80% of their covered encounters will receive a bonus that may be as high as 1.5% of their total allowed charges from fee-for-service Medicare for that period.

One of the 74 measures in the program (#9) regards antidepressant medication during the acute phase for patients with Major Depressive Disorder. Other measures, which may apply for psychiatrists that use certain service codes, include: screening for future fall risk (#4); medication reconciliation (#46); and advance care plan (#47).

More Information
For more information, visit the PQRI website and the APA page on PQRI.

There are also several tools that were recently posted to the AMA website, including a measure description, data collection sheet, and coding specifications for the MDD measure.