In the 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule released yesterday, CMS is emphasizing getting the Quality Payment Program (QPP) “back on track with the trajectory we had planned before the public health emergency (PHE)”. They’re focused on ensuring that the program resumes its intended progress, which was interrupted during the PHE over the last few years.
Here's an initial breakdown of what this means.
Quality scores matter!
The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) saved $1.8 billion for Medicare in 2022, according to last month’s announcement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.1 This marks the second-highest yearly savings since the program’s start. It further underscores the program’s track record of consistently generating savings and delivering high-quality performance for the sixth consecutive year, as noted by CMS.
Topics: ACO, MIPS Reporting
ACOs have encountered challenges with aggregating, matching, and deduplicating extensive, disparate patient data required under the eCQM and MIPS CQM quality measure collection types. Patient matching and deduplication are needed to accurately calculate quality metrics from data across multiple practices and EHR instances.
Read on as we unravel the challenges and several methods to overcome these challenges.
Topics: MACRA & MIPS, MIPS CQMs, MIPS Reporting
In the ever-evolving healthcare world, staying current is vital. Orthopedic surgery, particularly arthroplasty, has been at the forefront of the shift toward value-based care models. With certain procedures already subject to bundled payments for over a decade, the integration of cost measures within the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a game-changer.
Read on as we unravel the vital details of this essential aspect of modern healthcare performance assessment.
Topics: MACRA & MIPS, MIPS CQMs, MIPS Reporting
With 2022 MIPS final scores available, hospitals and health systems have seen the Cost category produce a major impact on their overall MIPS scores.
Before CMS added the Cost category to 2022 MIPS scores, hospitals had little insight into how it would impact MIPS scores. With scores out, we see that many hospitals and health systems were scored on over 10 Cost category measures. That’s a large amount of data to sift through and analyze.
Topics: MACRA & MIPS, MIPS CQMs, MIPS Reporting
In the 2024 Proposed PFS Rule released in July 2023, CMS outlined a new option for MSSP participants to report quality measures called the Medicare CQM option. CMS created this reporting option to address concerns raised by ACOs and others, while still transitioning ACOs toward digital quality measure reporting.
Read on to learn more about the new proposed option for MSSP participants.
Topics: MACRA & MIPS, MIPS CQMs, MIPS Reporting
With 2022 MIPS preliminary scores available, oncology practices are increasingly seeing how the Cost category negatively affects their overall MIPS scores.
Before CMS added the Cost category to 2022 MIPS scores, research hinted that oncology and other specialties with higher healthcare costs might face more adverse effects than other specialties. Numerous oncology practices opted for an Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) exemption for the Cost category in 2022, mitigating the impact of cost measures on them.
Read on to learn more about how MIPS Cost scores are affecting Oncology practices.
Topics: MACRA & MIPS, MIPS Reporting, MIPS Cost
Discover the game-changing impact of the 2022 MIPS Final Score Preview period as we delve into the long-awaited return of Cost category scores after 3 years. The implications for providers' total MIPS scores are profound, and we have the insights you need to navigate this transformative shift.
Topics: MIPS Reporting
Last week, CMS confirmed that 2022 MIPS scores for eligible providers will include the Cost performance category. Per CMS:
“For the 2020 and 2021 performance periods, CMS reweighted the MIPS Cost performance category to 0% as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). For the 2022 performance period/2024 MIPS payment year (hereafter written as “2022 performance period”), CMS conducted an empirical analysis to assess whether any or all cost measures were continually impacted by the COVID-19 PHE and, if so, whether it would be appropriate for CMS to reweight the Cost performance category again under § 414.1380(c)(2) or to exclude any individual cost measures.
Read on to learn more about how these changes may affect your MIPS participation and payment year.
Topics: MIPS Reporting
Explore the options for 2023 and look forward to 2024!
In 2023, MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs)present a new and challenging reporting option for many providers. There are twelve available MVPs focused on specialties such as Emergency Medicine, Oncology, Hematology, Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Rheumatology, Neurology, Neurosurgical, Vascular Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Nephrology, Anesthesiology, Preventive Medicine, and Geriatrics.
While MVPs can be helpful for reporting, they also pose some challenges.
Topics: MVPs
