Exam Lane: EHR American Academy of Ophthalmology’s IRIS Registry Approved for Federal Quality Reporting By Staff Friday, June 13, 2014 12:27 AM William L. Rich III, MD. SAN FRANCISCO—The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s IRIS Registry eye disease and condition registry has been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for federal quality reporting. Launched in March, as reported by VMail, the IRIS (Intelligent Research In Sight) registry has received two Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) designations, as a qualified registry and as a qualified clinical data registry. The centralized data repository and reporting tool aggregates and analyzes patient data from electronic health records (EHRs) to help eye physicians and surgeons streamline the work required to comply with federal payment programs while identifying ways to enhance care quality and practice efficiency. The qualified registry designation confirms that the IRIS Registry can be used by practices to automatically collect and report clinical data for PQRS and cataracts measures. In addition, as a qualified clinical data registry, IRIS now allows users to report on quality measures across multiple payers and is not limited to Medicare beneficiaries or measures within PQRS. The qualified clinical data registry reporting option is a new standard through which physicians can satisfy PQRS requirements, receive PQRS incentive payments and avoid future program penalties. "Securing these designations is a significant milestone for the medical specialty of ophthalmology," said William L. Rich III, MD, medical director of health policy for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "Through the IRIS Registry, ophthalmology now has the power to design specialty-specific measures that will enhance the value of CMS quality reporting and help improve patient outcomes." Close to 4,000 physicians across the country are already participating in the IRIS Registry, which currently holds more than 7 million patient records and is expected to ultimately house more than 20 million within two years. For more on Electronic Health Records visit VM’s Intelligent Office.