MIPS Blog

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes to our daily lives, including a surge in the use of telemedicine. During the past few months, more clinicians and their patients have been turning to telehealth appointments so patients can safely receive the care they need. In response, CMS announced many changes to support telehealth, including payments for Medicare telehealth services furnished to patients in broadened circumstances and an expanded list of clinicians who can provide these services. Clinicians offering telehealth services to their patients may want to consider how this is relevant to their MIPS reporting. In this article, we have identified a list of Quality measures and Improvement Activities that can be reported for telemedicine services.

MIPS eligible clinicians, groups and virtual groups can now apply for the 2020 Promoting Interoperability (PI) Hardship Exception or the MIPS Program Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception. Applications must be submitted to CMS by December 31, 2020. Exceptions will be available to those who meet certain criteria established by CMS. Those who qualify for automatic reweighting of PI reporting do not need to apply for this exception.

During these unprecedented times, you can rely on MDinteractive to stay on top of any MIPS reporting changes and continue to communicate important updates. As you begin to think about your MIPS reporting for 2020, some measures you reported in the past may no longer be available to report this year or may have had significant revisions. In this article we have outlined some key points to consider as you select measures to report, including a list of removed measures, so you can make your reporting plans with confidence.

As we put the 2019 MIPS reporting year behind us, it is helpful to start planning for 2020 since some of the requirements have changed. The number of MIPS points needed to avoid any penalties has increased to 45 MIPS points (up from 30 points in 2019) and you must reach 85 MIPS points for an exceptional performance bonus (up from 75 points). Payment adjustments are also higher at +/-9% (up from +/-7%), so the financial risk of not reporting is much greater. Before you get started with your reporting, go through this 2020 MIPS Reporting Guide to understand your reporting obligations and prepare a strategy to help your practice meet its reporting goals.

It’s that time of year again - the MIPS submission season is upon us! While many clinicians are still completing their 2019 MIPS reporting, the 2020 MIPS performance year has already started. Knowing what to do, and when, throughout the calendar year can save you a lot of headaches when it’s time to report and help you avoid paying any MIPS penalties. We understand that keeping track of important dates for both performance periods can be a challenge, so we have prepared two lists of key dates to mark on your calendars for your 2019 and 2020 MIPS reporting.

‘Tis the season for MIPS! We know this can be a stressful time of year, but using a CMS approved Qualified Registry such as MDinteractive can simplify your MIPS reporting and help you cross it off your to-do list. Not only can registries help you stay on top of the changing rules each year, but they can also provide useful tools to simplify the reporting process so you reach your MIPS goals. In this article we have listed some of the top reasons to consider using a registry like MDinteractive and the ways in which we can make your MIPS reporting less stressful.

Improvement Activities (IA) is one of 4 categories under the MIPS program. This year many clinicians are choosing to attest to Improvement Activities, in addition to reporting another MIPS category, to ensure they reach the minimum threshold of 30 points to avoid any MIPS penalty. Attesting to IA is a simple process. In this article we provide an overview of the IA category and tips on how to identify activities most relevant to your practice.

The Quality Payment Program (QPP) Participation Status Tool allows clinicians to view their eligibility status for both the Merit-based Incentive Payment Program (MIPS) and the Alternative Payment Model (APM) program. Clinicians can enter their individual National Provider Identifier (NPI) into the tool to learn if they are required to report MIPS by performance year or if they are a Qualifying APM Participant (QP) or Partial QP. CMS recently updated the tool with information about clinicians’ APM status and is expected to update MIPS eligibility in November. MIPS eligible clinicians who do not report MIPS this year will receive an automatic 7% penalty on their Medicare Part B payments in 2021, so it is important to understand what their eligibility status means so they can protect their Medicare reimbursement.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its Final Rule for the Quality Payment Program (QPP), with several changes to MIPS in 2020 and future reporting years. The Final Rule continues to gradually increase the reporting requirements under the MIPS program. In this article we will highlight the most important changes you need to know for the 2020 performance year and how they could impact your bottom line. We will also cover how CMS plans to transform the program in 2021 to reduce your reporting burden.

Cost is the fourth performance category under the MIPS program and makes up 15% of your total MIPS score for 2019 (up from 10% in 2018 and 0% in 2017). This category will steadily increase to 30% by the year 2022 when it will have the same weight as Quality. If CMS is unable to calculate a Cost score for a clinician, the category will be reweighted to Quality. While clinicians can relatively quickly change their MIPS Quality score by tracking some specific outcomes (e.g., track smoking status and give cessation advice), Cost is more challenging. It is more complex with many different variables, so monitoring Cost becomes important as it contributes more towards your final MIPS score. MDinteractive can help you access your CMS performance feedback reports which will provide your Cost score from prior MIPS reporting years.  In this article we will explore the different cost measures, how they are scored and the potential impact on your practice.