Are you a group practice or eligible hospital that has decided to submit your PQRS as a GPRO through your EHR? Here is what you need to know.

- A group practice must have registered to report via EHR under the GPRO for 2015 PQRS. The deadline for this registration is June 30, 2015. Once registration closes, you will not be able to make changes. Group practices can avoid the -2% PQRS payment adjustment in 2017 by satisfactorily reporting PQRS.

- Make sure your electronic health record is an ONC-Certified EHR Product. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) certification process has established standards and other criteria for structured data that EHRs must use. Certified EHR products and versions of these products should allow for the direct submission of PQRS measures data by your practices' representative to CMS in the CMS-specified format(s).

- Contact your EHR Vendor before the GPRO registration closes to ensure that they are capable of submitting PQRS specifically for GPROs via the EHR Direct Method. Also, please note that it may take 24 hours for CMS to process an IACS account request; therefore, an IACS account must be obtained in advance so that the group's registration can be submitted by June30,2015.

- Work with your EHR vendor to learn how to create the required reporting files from your EHR system so they can be uploaded through the Portal using IACS.

For more information regarding PQRS, you may contact: Ramona Drake, RHIA ramona.drake@area-g.hcqis.org 601-957-1575 ext. 231