CMS Webinar Reviews the APM Performance Pathway
On Monday, September 27, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a webinar discussing an overview of the APM Performance Pathway (APP) policies, which are part of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). According to CMS, this is a new method for scoring and reporting in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
There are two tracks for the Quality Payment Program: MIPS and APMs. Clinicians who have met or even exceeded the payment or patient amount thresholds based on participation in an Advanced APM are exempt from reporting in MIPS. These clinicians may be able to earn 5% on Part B claims for the duration of performance year 2021. The individuals are classified as qualifying APM participants (QPs) and have the option to choose if they want to participate in MIPS. If clinicians are not a QP, then they will be required to participate in MIPS. CMS announced that the QP thresholds are going to be frozen for the next two years and will remain at 2020 levels.
The APP is available to clinicians who are MIPS APMs participants; required for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs; is available for reporting by the individual clinician, group or APM entity; is complementary to MVPs; and is composed of a fixed set of measures for each performance category. The highest available score will be rewarded.
CMS is proposing for the Web Interface option to be available for performance year 2022 for both Shared Savings Program ACOs and MIPS groups. For performance year 2023, CMS is proposing that the Web Interface option is to be available only for Shared Savings Program ACOs. Along with this, they are also proposing that they score the Web Interface measures for Shared Savings Program ACOs that also report at least 1 eCQM/MIPS CQM.
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