Allscripts looks to Hawaii for P4P reporting solution

Allscripts is teaming up with a Hawaii-based physician management services organization on a new product designed to ease pay-for-performance reporting guidelines for physicians.

The Chicago-based provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions has unveiled the Allscripts Clinical Quality Solution (CQS), which extracts and compiles appropriate quality measures from an electronic health record (EHR), practice management (PM) system or outside laboratories.

CQS then helps clinicians identify patients eligible for specific pay-for-performance programs, locates the appropriate reporting codes and automatically updates that information.

CQS is powered by TeamPraxis, a physician management services organization that provides technology and support services to more than 1,000 physicians in Hawaii. Under terms of the agreement between the two vendors, Allscripts will integrate CQS into its EHR and PM solutions.

"Physicians today would like to take advantage of the growing number of pay-for-performance initiatives that promise to deliver new income for their practices, but many are discouraged by the time-consuming paperwork required to participate in the program," said Glenn Tullman, Allscripts' CEO, in a press release. "Our new Clinical Quality Solution powered by TeamPraxis takes the pain out of pay-for-performance by automating the entire reporting process, letting physicians focus on what they do best - providing great patient care.

Aside from streamlining the reporting process, CQS is also designed to give physicians quick access to relevant patient information. Through a physician dashboard, physicians can drill down to specific patients and take such steps as scheduling follow-up appointments or lab tests.

"We are proud to partner with Allscripts in developing this innovative solution that we believe will help physicians across the nation deliver higher quality care while generating new income for their practices," said Creighton Arita, president and CEO of TeamPraxis, which has been deploying Allscripts solutions to Hawaiian physicians since 2005.

Pay-for-performance initiatives are designed to reduce the overall cost of healthcare by offering financial incentives for physicians to adopt quality healthcare measures. One such P4P program is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Physicians Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), which provides bonuses for physicians who successfully report a designated series of quality measures for covered Medicare services.

In using CQS, physician practices can select which P4P initiatives in which to participate, then use their EHR to collect and document the information needed from patient visits.