How new Medicare payment system intends to help small practices
The proposed rule for implementing key provisions of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) has drawn concerns regarding its regulatory impact analysis, which projected that the quality and resource use components of the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) would have a negative impact on most solo physicians and small practices.
CMS has clarified in its new small practices fact sheet that the projections made in the analysis were “based on 2014 data when many small and solo practice physicians did not report their performance. It also does not reflect the accommodations in the proposed rule that are intended to provide additional flexibility to small practices.”
Some of the flexibilities that CMS says were included in the proposed rule to accommodate the unique needs and challenges faced by physicians in small practices:
- Physicians with a low Medicare volume won’t be subject to the MIPS payment adjustment. To avoid unnecessary reporting burdens, clinicians or groups who have less than or equal to $10,000 in Medicare charges and less than or equal to 100 Medicare patients are excluded from the MIPS payment adjustment.
- Physicians should not be held accountable to inapplicable categories. If a MIPS performance category does not have enough measures or activities that are applicable for the practice, then the category would not be included in the practice’s MIPS score.
- Physicians will have fewer measures on which to report. The agency is proposing to remove unneeded measures and reduce administrative requirements. For example, CMS proposes to reduce the number of required measures in the quality and advancing care information categories.
- Physicians can use a single reporting mechanism. Three of the four categories will require reporting—all of which can be done through the same mechanism, instead of the distinct reporting options required under the current payment system. Physicians also have greater choice regarding which reporting mechanism to use.
Excerpt from AMA Wire. Read Full Article