Fraser Cobbe

Orange County Medical Society

Seminole County Medical Society


The American Medical Association released an important update last week on potential quality reporting penalties for physicians. The AMA has been working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to address concerns with the accurate application of the ICD-10-CM Updates last fall and the implications on penalties for physician reporting. Of specific concern to the AMA was the volume of ICD-10 Updates and the fact that these updates took place in the middle of the PQRS reporting period.

Due to the efforts of the AMA, Medicare has decided to withhold penalties in 2018 for individual physician and group practice reporting from October to December 2016. The Value-Based Modifier payment program will also be adjusted to consider EPs as successful if they meet PQRS reporting requirements.

Our organizations applaud the AMA for their advocacy. We encourage our members to view the article linked below from the AMA for additional details and further technical explanations of the decision taken by Medicare.

The AMA article can be seen here.