On May 31, 2018, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced that 91% of all Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians participated in year one of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), surpassing CMS’s goal to have 90% of eligible clinicians participate in the first year. Verma highlighted ACOs’ and rural clinicians’ participation rates at 98% and 94%, respectively. In the announcement, Verma thanked the clinicians who participated, the professional associations and consumer advocates who contributed and the networks that provided free technical assistance.
Additionally, Verma stated that CMS was eager to improve the clinician and patient experience by allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients and less time on unnecessary requirements through CMS’s Meaningful Measures initiative. Verma reiterated CMS’s commitment to its Patients over Paperwork initiative with goals to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens, increase efficiencies and improve Medicare beneficiaries’ experience. Verma stated that after only eight months, CMS has made significant progress and, in particular, CMS has done the following:
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Reduced the number of clinicians that are required to participate giving them more time with their patients, not computers;
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Added new bonus points for clinicians who are in small practices, treat complex patients, or use 2015 Edition Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) exclusively as a means of promoting the interoperability of health information;
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Increased the opportunity for clinicians to earn a positive payment adjustment; and
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Continued offering free technical assistance to clinicians in the program.
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) required CMS to implement the QPP. Under the QPP, eligible clinicians could either participate in Advanced Alternative Payment models (APMs) or MIPS. Clinicians who participate in MIPS are eligible to receive performance-based payment adjustments under Medicare Part B. Under MIPS, CMS measures clinician performance under four categories: resource use/cost, quality, advancing care information and clinical practice improvement activities. MACRA required clinicians to start reporting in January 2017, but the clinicians’ payments will not be adjusted based on that data until 2019.
