October 15 Deadline to Submit a MIPS Targeted Review Request

September 27, 2018
Policy Snapshot
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), Payment, Medicare Access and CHIP Re-authorization Act (MACRA), Merit-Based Incentive Program Payment System (MIPS), Quality Payment Program (QPP), Practice Management, Practitioners

If you participated in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in 2017, your MIPS final score and performance feedback are available on the Quality Payment Program website. The payment adjustment you will receive in 2019 is based on this final score. A positive, negative, or neutral payment adjustment will be applied to the Medicare paid amount for covered professional services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule in 2019.

MIPS eligible clinicians or groups (along with their designated support staff or authorized third-party intermediary), including those who are subject to the APM scoring standard, may request for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to review their performance feedback and final score through a process called targeted review if they believe an error has been made in the 2019 payment adjustment calculation. 

Please note that on September 13, 2018, CMS updated MIPS 2017 performance feedback for clinicians affected by scoring issues previously identified through the targeted review process. Additionally, to ensure that the budget neutrality required by law under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is maintained, some clinicians will see slight changes in their payment adjustment. If you believe an error exists in your 2019 MIPS payment adjustment calculation, you can request a targeted review by the extended deadline of October 15 at 8:00 PM EDT—which is less than three weeks away. To learn more, view this 2017 MIPS Performance Feedback Statement.

When to Request a Targeted Review

Here are some examples of circumstances in which you may wish to request a targeted review: 

  • Errors or data quality issues on the measures and activities you submitted
  • Eligibility issues (e.g., you fall below the low-volume threshold and should not have received a payment adjustment)
  • Being erroneously excluded from the APM participation list and not being scored under the APM scoring standard
  • Not being automatically reweighted even though you qualify due to the 2017 extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy

This is not a comprehensive list of circumstances. CMS encourages you to contact the Quality Payment Program if you believe a targeted review of your MIPS payment adjustment (or additional MIPS payment adjustment) is warranted.

How to Request a Targeted Review

You can access your MIPS final score and performance feedback and request a targeted review by:

  • Going to the Quality Payment Program website
  • Logging in using your Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) credentials; these are the same EIDM credentials that allowed you to submit your MIPS data. Please refer to the EIDM User Guide for additional details.

When evaluating a targeted review request, CMS will generally require additional documentation to support the request. If your targeted review request is approved, CMS will update your final score and associated payment adjustment (if applicable), as soon as technically feasible. CMS will determine the amount of the upward payment adjustments after the conclusion of the targeted review submission period. Please note that targeted review decisions are final and not eligible for further review.

For More Information

To learn more about the steps for requesting a targeted review, please review the following:   

Questions?

If you have questions about your MIPS performance feedback or final score, or whether you should submit a targeted review request, please contact the Quality Payment Program by phone at 1-866-288-8292/TTY: 1-877-715-6222 or via email at QPP@cms.hhs.gov.