The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to study the hardships associated with reporting quality measures under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and is inviting clinicians to apply to participate in the research.
CMS is specifically looking to study clinical workflows and data collection methods using different submission systems to examine the burdens associated with reporting quality measures in 2018, as outlined in the Quality Payment Program Year 2, under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The agency also wants to understand the challenges that clinicians have in the collection and reporting of quality data with the aim of recommending changes to try to lower clinicians’ burden, improve quality data collection and reporting, and enhance clinical care.
According to CMS, MIPS-eligible clinicians participating in MIPS as an individual or as part of a group and that participate successfully in the study will earn full credit for the 2018 MIPS Improvement Activities performance category. CMS also will include a limited number of clinicians who aren’t eligible for MIPS in 2018 for the study.
CMS is accepting applications for the study through March 23, 2018. Clinicians will be notified by email in spring 2018 if they are selected for the study. An application to participate in the study can be found here.
The study will run from April 2018 to March 2019. To successfully compete the study and earn full Improvement Activity credit, clinicians who are chosen to participate will have to complete a 2017 MIPS participation survey in April/May 2018 and a 2018 MIPS planning survey in September/October 2018. Participating clinicians, if invited by the study team, may also have to join a virtual 90-minute focus group between November 2018 and February 2019. And, clinicians will have to meet the minimum requirements for the MIPS Quality performance category by submitting data for at least three measures in the MIPS Quality performance category, as required for 2018 MIPS participation. The data submitted must include one outcome measure, be submitted to CMS by the March 31, 2019 final MIPS reporting deadline and be submitted through any method accepted under MIPS for Year 2 of the QPP.
