MACRA now in its first year of implementation in 2017, has established a new framework for physician payment focused on quality and value using two distinct payment paths. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP) includes the following pathways: the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Incentive program. MACRA replaced the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula that gave the ability to determine Medicare physician fee-for-service payments. The first payment adjustments based on performance go into effect January 1, 2019. According to reports under MACRA, physicians’ 2017 performance on various quality, cost, technology use, and practice improvement measures will determine cuts, bonuses, or neither in their 2019 Medicare payments.
Here are some of the considerations from major health care groups that care about keeping clinicians and administrators on their P’s & Q’s with the electronic documents. Letters from the Electronic Health Records Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Medical Group Association.
CHIME provided this helpful comparison chart of the requirements of meaningful use and of the Advancing Care Information part of MIPS that replaces it and the National Committee for Quality Assurance released its MACRA Toolkit for clinical practices.
