Beginning January 1, 2015 and beyond the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is required to apply negative payment adjustments to the fee schedule amounts for those providers that have not successfully/satisfactorily participated in Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). Doctors of chiropractic can avoid the 2 percent payment deduction to their 2017 Medicare reimbursement by successfully and satisfactorily reporting PQRS measures for Pain Assessment and Follow-Up (Measure #131) and Functional Outcome Assessment (Measure #182) during the 2015 reporting period (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2015). 

Additionally, it is very important that all DCs that treat Medicare beneficiaries, both Participating (Par) and Non-Participating (Non-Par), are aware of how the negative payment adjustments affect them when billing claims to Medicare.