Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Selects Cerner to Participate in Quality Reporting Initiative

Business Wire,  May 2, 2008  

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Cerner Will Take Part in a Project to Test Mechanisms for Data Submission of Physician Quality Reporting Initiative Measures Through Electronic Medical Records

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it selected Cerner (NASDAQ: CERN) as one of six healthcare information technology suppliers to participate in a project that will test information technology solutions to facilitate the submission of Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) measures data gathered from electronic medical records (EMRs). The testing project will use the data elements needed for five PQRI measures (three related to diabetes, one to coronary-artery disease and one to heart failure). The submission of data gathered from EMRs may serve as one of several alternative ways eligible professionals choosing to report PQRI measures could submit their quality data if CMS decides to move forward with EMR-based submission in the future.

"The ability to submit PQRI data pulled directly from the EMR would eliminate a tedious and time-consuming process," said Trace Devanny, Cerner president. "Cerner is pleased to collaborate with CMS and other testing-project participants to move toward an environment that creates additional value for clinicians participating in quality-reporting and quality-improvement initiatives."

The PQRI provides financial incentives to healthcare professionals who report quality data on services provided under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. PQRI is a first step toward linking healthcare professionals' payments to quality on a national basis, consistent with Medicare's ongoing transformation from passive payer to active purchaser of high-value healthcare.

The Cerner Millennium([R]) Discern Analytics can be used by clinicians to pull quality reporting data from the EMR to report to CMS. By using the Discern Analytics solution, clinicians can access reports created from the information they enter into the EMR during the care process. According to a 2006 article from the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, comparison studies of data gathered from clinical databases and data gathered from claims information found substantial discrepancies between the two types of data. Performance data gathered from EMRs is typically more accurate than claims-based data.

The University of Missouri has been working with Cerner to test the Discern Analytics solution to allow clinicians to measure outcomes and pinpoint areas for improvement.

"The ability to pull data directly from Cerner Millennium as opposed to spending extra time coding and compiling data from claims-based reporting is a huge benefit for healthcare organizations," said Dr. Hal Williamson, University of Missouri professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. "Removing these time-consuming manual processes allows clinicians to spend more time with patients and less time completing paperwork."

About Cerner

Cerner is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 6,000 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner, Cerner's logo and Cerner Millennium. NASDAQ: CERN. www.cerner.com.

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