Activity ID
IA_EPA_1Activity Weighting
HighSubcategory Name
Expanded Practice Access
Activity Description
Provide 24/7 access to MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or care teams for advice about urgent care (e.g., MIPS eligible clinician and care team access to medical record, cross-coverage with access to medical record, or protocol-driven nurse line with access to medical record) that could include one or more of the following:
- Expanded hours in evenings and weekends with access to the patient medical record (e.g., coordinate with small practices to provide alternate hour office visits and urgent care);
- Use of alternatives to increase access to care team by MIPS eligible clinicians and groups, such as e-visits, phone visits, group visits, home visits and alternate locations (e.g., senior centers and assisted living centers); and/or
- Provision of same-day or next-day access to a MIPS eligible clinician, group or care team when needed for urgent care or transition management.
Objective
Increase patient access to eligible clinicians who work in an outpatient setting with the goal of reducing unnecessary emergency room visits.
Suggested Documentation
Evidence of demonstrated patient care provided outside of normal business hours through expanded practice hours and by eligible clinicians with real-time access to patient’s electronic health record (EHR), or that patients received needed urgent care in a timely way. Expanded Business Hours are defined as hours that are outside of a practice’s standard business hours of operation. Include at least one of the following elements:
1) Patient record from EHR – A patient record from an EHR with date and timestamp indicating services provided outside of the practice’s normal business hours for that eligible clinician (a certified EHR may be used for documentation purposes, but is not required unless attesting for the Promoting Interoperability bonus); OR
2) Patient encounter/medical record/claim – Patient encounter/medical record/claim indicating patient was seen or services provided outside of the practice’s normal business hours for that eligible clinician, including use of telehealth visits, or that the services were provided at an alternative location (e.g., senior centers, assisted living centers, centers for independent living, area agencies on aging); OR
3) Same or next-day patient encounter/medical record/claim – Patient encounter/medical record/claim indicating patient was seen same-day or next-day by an eligible clinician or practice for urgent care or transition management.