CMS offers 5.1% payment increases

Physicians and other eligible professionals who adopt and use qualified electronic prescribing systems to transmit prescriptions to pharmacies may earn an incentive payment of 2% of their total Medicare allowed charges during 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have announced. This incentive is in addition to a 2% incentive payment for 2009 for physicians who successfully report measures under the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, and both incentive payments are in addition to the 1.1% fee schedule update required by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, according to a CMS release. As a result, a physician who successfully reports under both the e-prescribing and PQRI initiatives could receive up to a 5.1% pay boost for 2009.