Are 29 New PQRS Measures a Good Idea?

Is a CMS proposal to add 29 new quality measures for group reporting under PQRS an overreach?


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed 29 new quality measures for group practices to report under the Physician Quality Reporting System. That worries Dave Delano, project director at the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, who wonders if the proposal is an overreach. Here are his comments to Health Data Management:

“We already see fragmented reporting with various federal programs (MU, ACO, PQRS), along with overlapping and slightly different measure specifications, although there are plans to consolidate them in 2014.

“Adding an additional 29 measures to that universe seems like a regulatory ‘hoop’ to meet payment incentive requirements rather than a sincere effort to align quality programs with care delivery. Getting providers to build processes and methods to drive quality in a positive direction is hard work; adding new measures will not improve that in the short run.

“We as a nation need to walk before we run and simply adding more to the mix is asking for more running (in place), and not really making any difference in quality. Our focus should be on a set of consistent measures that are accepted and can be used by providers, payers and government health programs to truly begin to drive quality with analytics.

“We have not accomplished that goal yet and adding more measures creates confusion and distraction from the real task at hand--improving quality of patient care.”

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