Healthmonix Advisor

For many practices, one of the biggest differences between MIPS reporting for 2017 and 2018 is the amount of information that needs to be reported to achieve a high score. Gone is the test option that allowed clinicians to simply report on 90 days worth of patient visit information for the Quality performance category—now clinicians need to report on 60% of eligible patient visits per measure for all payers. This is typically a phrase I repeat a few times when discussing MIPS with practices who reported minimally for 2017.

We get a lot of questions from multi-specialty practices about how to get started with MIPS reporting. Measure selection can be confusing, and there are many common misconceptions, such as the assumption that different specialties cannot report together. Reporting MIPS can even seem entirely hopeless, due to the size, services, and systems used by your practice. That’s why this week we’re sharing our advice about the most significant steps your multi-specialty practice can take to set itself up for MIPS success!

In an environment of ever-increasing demands for information, healthcare providers must ask more, document more and learn more about their patients. With more information comes more insight; this is evident as some of the hottest topics for healthcare IT include Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and patient data analytics. But to get to the point where patient data can successfully be used to identify care gaps and provide predictive insights, the information must be documented correctly.

Hospital executives have to make tough decisions during the shift to value based care, especially when it comes to software. What systems are worth investing in, and how can you ensure your hospital is getting the most out of its money? In MIPS reporting, for example, it can feel like an impossible task to weigh the pros and cons of reporting via EHR or working with a registry.

As the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) become more complex, clinicians will be looking for answers to their reporting questions. Consultants, billers, and technology vendors often face the brunt of those questions, but don’t feel best-suited to answer them. After spending most waking hours assisting with last-minute MIPS submissions last month, I wanted to disclose a few quick tips for you to share with anyone looking to report.

As a mental and behavioral health clinician, you might be immediately skeptical about the title of this blog. CMS has, after all, given you a free pass for two consecutive reporting years. That’s right, the government is actually giving you a break! So why should mental and behavioral health clinicians still report?

Congrats everyone, we survived the first year of MIPS! Whether 2017 represented the first time your practice participated in value-based care initiatives—or an opportunity for your organization to continue performing at a high level in CMS programs—the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System was new for everyone. As we transition to the second year of MIPS, one of the key changes your practice will need to address is the amount of information necessary to achieve reporting success.

 The 2018 winter Olympics wrapped up this weekend in PyeongChang, leaving us at Healthmonix contemplating the many analogous connections between the Olympian athletes and providers of value-based care. So in honor of this year’s champions, we’re laying out why you should follow their example and go for the gold:

1. If you want to place, strive for peak performance.