Reporting requirements for PTs in private practice are the same this year as last. Change is coming, however.

The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) began in 2007 as the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, a voluntary, incentive-based program for practitioners—including PTs in the private practice setting—that was designed to better ensure high-quality health care services for Medicare beneficiaries.

The program as we know it today will sunset on December 31 of this year, as required under the Medicare Access and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). A new quality program, the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), will replace PQRS on January 1, 2017.