ASA Highlights Quality Initiatives in Formal Comments to CMS

Recently, ASA submitted formal comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Request for Information regarding the use of clinical quality measures in federal reporting programs. The CMS Request for Information was in response to Section 601(b) of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, which would allow reporting to qualified clinical data registries as satisfactory reporting data on quality measures in federal programs such as the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the EHR Incentive Program.

Noting anesthesiologists' record as Institute of Medicine (IOM) recognized leaders in patient safety, ASA's formal comments highlighted efforts at the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI), including the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR), the Anesthesia Incident Reporting System (AIRS), the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) Practice Performance Assessment and Improvement (PPAI) and the National Pain Registry.

Additionally, ASA responded to specific questions posed by the CMS Request for Information and ASA advocated that "specialty registries should not be limited to approved PQRS or NQF endorsed measures."

Review ASA's formal comments.

Review CMS Request for Information.