News: Quality payment program proposed rule for 2018 released

More than 585,000 eligible clinicians could be excluded from the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements due to proposed changes to the program’s low-volume threshold, AHA News says.

Last week, CMS issued a proposed rule updating the requirements of the quality payment program (QPP) for physician and eligible clinicians mandated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, according to AHA News.

All-and-all, CMS’ proposed rule “continues the incremental, flexible implementation approach” called for by the AHA and others, said AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels in a statement.

In addition to the low-volume threshold update, the rule proposes policies for the QPP’s 2018 performance period, affecting provider payment in 2020. CMS also proposed a MIPS reporting option which would allow hospital-based clinicians to use their hospital’s value-based purchasing measure results in the MIPS program.

“We are encouraged by CMS’s proposal for a facility-based clinician reporting option that may promote better alignment and collaboration on efforts to improve quality among hospitals and clinicians,” Nickels said.

“We also encourage CMS to provide additional opportunities for clinicians to earn incentives for partnering with hospitals to provide better quality,” he added.

Editor’s note: To read the complete proposed rule for the quality payment program, click here. To read the brief from CMS regarding the proposals, click here. To read more about quality measures in general, read the March/April edition of the CDI Journal.