MIPS Blog

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Primary Care First (PCF) program is a new alternative payment model designed to support the delivery of advanced primary care. The program will begin in 2021 and will examine whether financial risk and performance based payments that reward primary care clinicians will lower Medicare costs and improve health care quality. PCF participants must annually report data on specific quality measures, including the quality measure Advance Care Plan which requires a Qualified Registry or QCDR vendor for reporting since it is not an EHR reportable measure. As a CMS Qualified Registry, MDinteractive can support practices participating in the program by reporting this measure on their behalf.

On August 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed regulation for the Quality Payment Program (QPP) with recommended changes to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APMs) in 2021 and beyond. A final rule will be released later this fall after a public comment period. Here is a look at some key highlights of the proposed changes and how they could impact your practice.

Your 2019 MIPS performance feedback is now available, which includes your MIPS final scores and payment adjustment information.  You should carefully review your reporting results.  Any positive or negative payment adjustment will apply to your 2021 Medicare Part B payments for covered professional services. You have until 8pm EST on October 5, 2020 to request a targeted review if you believe an error was made in your 2021 MIPS payment adjustment calculation.

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.