Important Changes to AIM:RA – Review Your Options
Data-driven optimal care
The ACR Rheumatology Clinical Registry is a free, easy-to-use tool developed to assist members in practice improvement, local population management, and efficient, successful participation in national quality programs. RCR integrates evidence-based quality measures aimed at improving care and drug safety for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, gout and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In 2011, the RCR can be used for submission to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program (e-Rx).
Are You:
- Committed to improving patient care in your practice?
- Dedicated to systematically tracking your patients with specific diseases?
- Looking for ways to more easily meet current Medicare or private insurer reporting requirements?
- Devoted to preparing your practice to meet future performance expectations?
- Seeking to use ACR AIM practice improvement modules to fulfill ABIM Maintenance of Certification requirements?
- Interested in contributing real-world data for quality benchmarking or research analyses?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, the ACR Rheumatology Clinical Registry is for you and your practice.
Don't miss this opportunity to participate in a national quality improvement effort for rheumatology that has an impact at the local, regional, and national levels. Join more than 200 rheumatologists across the country in participating in the Rheumatology Clinical Registry. Rheumatology providers treating patients in any practice setting are invited to join.
ACR members: Use the RCR for quality
improvement and population
management for free. Use
the tool for both CMS PQRS and
When fully utilized, the RCR empowers the care delivery team to learn from one of the practice's most valuable assets – patient data.
RCR for PQRS and Electronic Prescribing Reporting
In 2010, more than 230 rheumatologists used the RCR to report PQRS data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). ACR offers PQRS reporting through the RCR in partnership with our registry vendor, Outcome Sciences, Inc.
In 2011, PQRS and e-Rx submission to CMS will be offered as additional benefits of RCR participation. The PQRS program provides a 1% incentive payment in 2011, and e-Rx reporting provides the potential for an additional 1%.
What Are the Benefits of Registry Reporting?
Registry reporting maximizes the value of your data for clinical quality improvement projects within your organization. Analyzed data reports will assist you in identifying gaps in care.
The success rate for PQRS registry reporting is higher than claims-based reporting. This is primarily due to submission errors and missing/inconsistent data that are common in claims reporting. Validation checks built into the RCR reporting process help ensure that all submissions to PQRS are accurate and complete before the data are sent to CMS.
The ability to enter and view data at any point throughout the reporting year means that your practice can perform data entry retrospectively, in a batch format. The RCR will allow you to submit your 2011 data right up until the CMS deadline. This process eliminates the effort required to track claims throughout the year. Also, you can review and update your data at any time prior to the CMS deadline, helping you assess whether you are meeting reporting requirements.
Administrative improvement When standardized data sets are consistently entered into the RCR, your practice gains a strong and robust database giving you the ability to take the reins in performing data analysis for tactical and strategic decision making and enables the practice to react more swiftly to changing conditions and business issues related to patient care and reimbursement.
ACR members: Use the RCR for quality
improvement and population
management for free. Use
the tool for both CMS PQRS and
How can participation in the RCR help your practice?
The RCR was developed to provide maximal benefit in today's health care environment.
- Validate high quality care and identify areas to improve your rheumatology practice by accessing provider, practice and national reports. Reports include quality measures developed and endorsed by the ACR.
- Participate in the CMS PQRS program, which provides successful reporters with a bonus payment of two percent of total bonus payment for successful reporters.
- Submit data to the ACR AIM practice improvement modules to fulfill ABIM Maintenance of Certification requirements.
- Contribute to the development of a comprehensive national data source on rheumatic diseases that will ultimately benefit both rheumatology patients and practices.
Find out what's coming!
Upcoming enhancements to RCR include:
- EHR-enabled reporting
- Expansion of RCR to other measures and diseases, e.g., JIA
- Improved reporting capabilities
Frequently Asked Questions
+ View All Details
+ Who created the RCR?
+ What are the benefits of participating in the RCR?
+ How are data entered into, and accessed through, the RCR?
+ How does using the RCR for PQRS reporting purposes differ from the PQRS data collection that my practice is already doing through the claims process?
+ How does the RCR interact with the ACR's AIM practice improvement modules?
+ Do I have to enter data manually, or can some of it be pulled from other sources?
+ Who has access to my practice's data?
+ Who owns the data in the RCR?
+ Not all of the physicians in my practice want to participate in the RCR. Can I still participate?
+ What are the technical requirements for using the RCR, and what kind of technical support will I receive if I register?
+ How are data protected?
+ What does the RCR cost?
Clinical Practice Guidelines: published ACR guidelines for RA, OA and osteoporosis. The ACR guidelines were used as the basis for quality measure development and serve as useful resources for practice improvement efforts.
Quality Measures: more information about the quality measures implemented in the RCR (and others developed or endorsed by ACR).
Practice Improvement Resources: literature and links to organizations providing info on how to implement practice improvements and launch improvement projects.
Improvement Stories: Coming soon! This page will provide user-submitted descriptions of practice improvement projects and innovations.
RCR Demo
Want to get a better feel for the RCR? This demonstrator enables users to view a selection of RCR modules that were developed as part of the first release.
Coming Soon!
RCR Registration Information and Instructions
The RCR is designed for practice/clinic/group registration. Individual providers may register separately; however, we recommend that one registration is submitted for a practice with multiple providers listed as users. This will reduce the burden of multiple registrations and allow for meaningful analysis of data at the ‘practice’ level. Practice-level registration also is consistent with PQRS reporting as NPIs are collected for each provider. Registering for the RCR does not obligate the providers/practice site to submit data.
For PQRS reporting, please note that eligible physician assistants and nurse practitioners should be registered as users in the RCR. Click here 
for additional information about PQRS eligibility.
FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO REGISTER:
- Click here to go to the RCR Registration Form. The RCR Participation Agreement is included as a component of the Registration Form. The registrant must accept the Participation Agreement in order to proceed with registration (and should be authorized to do so on behalf of the provider/practice). Click here to preview the RCR Participation Agreement . The Registration Form also asks for basic information about your practice and the users who will access the RCR system. All information provided is considered confidential and this form is submitted via secure site.
- Within two business days of receiving your complete registration, we will contact you to set up the following:
- RCR usernames and passwords
- Information about RCR user training
- Once the practice has received its access to the RCR, users can begin to enter data.
WHEN TO REGISTER
The ACR recommends that practices register approximately one month before they intend to start data collection so they can receive training and materials well in advance of data collection.
ADDING USERS OR UPDATING INFORMATION
If your practice already is registered for RCR and you would like to add users or change any other registration information, please contact .
FILLING OUT YOUR PQRS AGREEMENT
Each submitting provider needs to fill out an agreement with our vendor, Outcome, to acknowledge that you allow them to submit your PQRS data to CMS. Click hereto access the agreement. (Instructions for turning in the agreement are on the first page.)
RCR Training and Demonstration Webinars
The ACR conducts periodic 30-45 minute webinars to provide interested individuals with a glimpse inside the RCR. Participants may also request and schedule a one on one review of the system. To participate in webinar, contact ACR staff at .
Contact Us!
ACR CONTACT
If you or your practice administrator have any questions about the RCR, how it works, or if it's right for your practice, contact
AIM CONTACT
For questions about how to use the RCR in conjunction with the ACR's AIM practice improvement modules – thereby eliminating duplicate data entry – contact
