PITTSBURGH, April 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Net Health, the leader in EHR software for outpatient specialty care, is pleased to announce that the Net Health Specialty Care Registry is qualified as a Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) reporting tool by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Net Health Specialty Care Registry is a software based collection and reporting tool that compiles and processes data from electronic health records (EHR) to enable eligible professionals (EPs) to statistically analyze their own care, compare it to that of their peers, and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

PQRS is a CMS program that uses a combination of incentive payments and adjustments to promote reporting of quality information by EPs. Specifically, the reported data focuses on quality measures for covered Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services furnished to Medicare Part B Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries. EPs who do not participate in PQRS reporting in 2014 will face negative payment adjustments, beginning in 2016.  

Access to the Net Health Specialty Care Registry will be made widely available, though it's anticipated to initially draw participants from the Net Health software client base. Participants will no longer need to manually report data on Medicare claim forms, rather data for PQRS measures will be automatically extracted from the EP's EHR and submitted to CMS electronically. 

The creation of Net Health Specialty Care Registry will be announced on April 24, 2014, at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) at the Gaylord Palms Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, FL.

"CMS lead the charge to employ clinical quality measures in their programs," said Cathy Thomas Hess, VP and Chief Clinical Officer at Net Health. "Through the transmission of measure-focused data via our specialty registry, clinical quality measures will drive CMS's understanding of the care provided to the patient/beneficiary and, ultimately, the data collected will improve quality care for patient populations."

For more information about the Net Health Specialty Care Registry, contact pqrs@nhsinc.com.

About Net Health
Net Health is the leader in software solutions for outpatient specialty care. The company's certified Electronic Health Records (EHR) are utilized by more than 30,000 healthcare professionals in 2,000 facilities to record clinical procedures and drive financial results while improving patient care and outcomes. The WoundExpert® software provides integrated clinical, financial, and regulatory solutions to enhance patient care and facility performance across the wound care continuum. Net Health's database of over 6 million patient encounters represents the largest independent source of chronic wound benchmarking data in the industry. Agility EHR® 10 is CCHIT Certified® 2014 Complete EHR that addresses the needs of urgent care and occupational health providers, as well as hospital employee health, available in both an individual provider and enterprise health system configurations. The Agility software has served hospitals for more than 20 years and tracks data for one million healthcare workers in the US. Learn more at www.nhsinc.com.

SOURCE Net Health