New CMS Designation Lets ASA Docs Use Full Spectrum of Data Registry to Improve Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has certified the Anesthesia Quality Institute’s (AQI’s) National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) – one of only 40 entities to achieve this designation. Registry participants will select performance measures aimed at improving patient care and safety, and influencing health care legislation.

“This new reporting vehicle will transform how physician anesthesiologists report physician performance in CMS’ Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS),” said American Society of Anesthesiologists® (ASA®) President Jane C. K. Fitch, M.D.  “This designation will have significant implications for our specialty and will empower every physician anesthesiologist to readily report on measures that matter to them and their patients.”

A non-profit subsidiary of ASA, AQI’s NACOR tracks patient and disease data to improve quality of care, and reports physician performance. In the next five years, CMS will phase out claims-based reporting in favor of registry-based reporting, transferring responsibilities to registries like AQI’s NACOR.

“The most important aspect of this new mechanism is that it allows ASA to select and develop its own physician performance measures, rather than being limited to three measures approved by CMS,” said Richard Dutton, M.D., M.B.A., executive director of AQI. “Who better to know how to measure anesthesia performance than physician anesthesiologists? Additionally, in the coming years the Society will be able to add measures to address subspecialty areas and related disciplines such as pain medicine and critical care.”

Under QCDR, physician anesthesiologists now have access to more than a dozen anesthesia-related measures. The QCDR designation will also impact physician payment. In 2014, physician anesthesiologists will receive a payment bonus or incentive of 0.5 percent for satisfactory reporting. Those who fail to successfully report will receive payment penalties starting at 1.5 percent and increasing steadily in the years that follow.