CMS Says Quality Payment Program Exceeds Year 1 Participation Goal

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that 91 percent of all clinicians eligible for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) participated in the first year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) – exceeding their goal of 90 percent participation. The submission rates for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and clinicians in rural practices were at 98 percent and 94 percent, respectively.

CMS notes that they are still committed to removing more of the regulatory burdens that get in the way of doctors and other clinicians spending time with their patients. Through the Patients over Paperwork initiative, they are working to streamline regulations, increase efficiencies, and improve care for patients.

CMS reviewed many of the MIPS requirements and developed policies for 2018 that continue to reduce burden, add flexibility, and help clinicians spend less time on unnecessary requirements and more time with patients, such as:

• Reduced the number of clinicians that are required to participate giving them more time with their patients, not computers.
• 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.
• Increased the opportunity for clinicians to earn a positive payment adjustment.
• Continued offering free technical assistance to clinicians in the program.

Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 CMS has additional authority to continue our gradual implementation of certain requirements for three more years to further reduce burden in areas of MIPS.

To read the CMS blog post about their goals, click here.