Educational Resources

The educational resources listed on this web page are designed to increase national awareness of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). Eligible professionals are encouraged to contact their professional organizations for additional information and tools that will facilitate participation in the PQRS.

CMS educational resources include:

• PQRS Educational Products
• MLN Matters Articles

Physician Quality Reporting System Educational Products

A variety of educational resources are available to assist eligible professionals with PQRS reporting:

• 2011 Physician Quality Reporting System: Informal Review Made Simple.  This Fact Sheet provides step-by-step guidance for requesting an informal review of program year 2011 PQRS results during the 2012 calendar year. This document applies only to the PQRS incentive payment eligibility and does not provide guidance for other Medicare or Medicaid incentive programs, such as the Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program, the Maintenance of Certification Program, or the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program.  This document is available in the "Downloads" section below.

The following educational products are available to assist eligible professionals with 2012 PQRS reporting.  The updated versions are available under the "Related Links Inside CMS" section below: 

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Pilot: Quick Reference Guide.  This Quick-Reference Guide provides direction to eligible professionals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program on reporting and satisfying the CQM requirements through participation in the PQRS-Medicare EHR Incentive Pilot.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: Claims Reporting Made Simple.  This fact sheet describes claims-based reporting and outlines steps that eligible professionals or practices should take prior to participating in the 2012 PQRS.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: Registry Reporting Made Simple.  This document describes registry-based reporting and outlines steps that eligible professionals or practices should take in selecting a registry to work with for the 2012 program year.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Reporting Made Simple.  This document describes EHR-based reporting and outlines steps that eligible professionals should take in selecting an EHR to work with for the 2012 program year.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Group Practice Reporting Option (GPRO): Participation for the Incentive Payment Made Simple. This document provides guidance for group practices wishing to participate in the 2012 PQRS and the 2012 eRx Incentive program as a CMS selected group practice.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: Maintenance of Certification Program Incentive Made Simple.  This document provides steps for successful participation in the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Program Incentive. It also explains the role of the qualified MOC Program Incentive entity.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: 2012 What's New PQRS.  This fact sheet includes important information about changes to the PQRS for 2012, as authorized by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

• 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System: Made Simple for Reporting the Preventive Care Measures Group Via Claims. This Fact Sheet provides guidance on satisfactorily reporting the Preventive Care Measures Group via claims for 2012 PQRS.

Physician Quality Reporting System MLN Matters Articles - These documents are available in the "Downloads" section below.

MLN Matters Article SE1207 - 2012 Physician Quality Reporting System Claims-Based Coding and Reporting Principles. This article describes claims-based coding and reporting, and outlines steps that eligible professionals or practices should take prior to participating in 2012 Physician Quality Reporting. 

MLN Matters Article SE0830 - Steps for IACS Defined "Individual Practitioners"to Access Their Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Feedback Reports. This MLN Matters® Article provides guidance to "individual practitioners" or individual eligible professionals who reported Physician Quality Reporting System or eRx Incentive Program quality measures data on how to access their feedback reports.

MLN Matters Article SE0831 - Steps for IACS Defined "Organizations" to Access Their Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Feedback Reports. This MLN Matters® Article provides guidance to “organizations” or group practices for which at least one eligible professional successfully reported at least one valid Quality-Data Code (QDC) under the Physician Quality Reporting System or the eRx Incentive Program on how to access their feedback reports.  

MLN Matters Article SE0922 - Process for Individual Eligible Professionals to Access NPI-Level Physician Quality Reporting System and Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program Feedback Reports.  This MLN Matters® Article provides a high level overview of the new process by which individual eligible professionals may request their NPI-level Physician Quality Reporting System or eRx Incentive Program feedback reports through the Communication Support Page.

Welcome to Physician Quality Reporting System Video

A You Tube video titled "Welcome to Physician Quality Reporting System" is posted below under the "Related Links" section.  This video provides an overview of the Physician Quality Reporting System.