by Roy Edroso
After their first year of using the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP) reporting method, participants in the Shared Savings program are spared further challenges as CMS delays the full transition to electronic clinical quality measures (eCQM) and MIPS clinical quality measures (MIPS CQM) and scales back some program requirements.
After their first year of using the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP) reporting method, participants in the Shared Savings program are spared further challenges as CMS delays the full transition to electronic clinical quality measures (eCQM) and MIPS clinical quality measures (MIPS CQM) and scales back some program requirements.
Last year, participants in the largest CMS accountable care organization (ACO) program were told
to report quality for both QPP and Shared Savings purposes via APP (PEN 12/14/20). This required that they swap out their CAHPS for ACOs reporting with CAHPS for MIPS, and the 2021 proposed rule required as well that they abandon the Web Interface reporting method and report instead eCQM and MIPS CQM via APP, which would require all-payer reporting, not just Medicare reporting. But in the final rule for 2021, CMS bowed to stakeholder pressure and pushed that requirement back a year.
This year, stakeholders objected again, complaining that, among other things, "the increased cost of modifying existing electronic health record (EHR) technology, obtaining new EHR interfaces and aggregation tools, and updating performance dashboards" made this transition burdensome. Commenters also expressed concern about the readiness of vendors such as registries.
CMS cites a survey from the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) that found noted 77% of respondents "indicated they do not have the infrastructure in place to aggregate data on behalf of their ACO participant TINs on quality performance across all payers starting in 2022."
