Pathologists must take action in 2017 in order to stop their Medicare payments from being cut in 2019 under the Meritbased Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program. The CAP has developed several resources, including a MIPS FAQ and an INFOGRAPHIC, for its members to help them take action as they prepare their data in order to avoid penalties and potentially earn a bonus in 2019.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will use this 2017 calendar year as a performance period to determine whether or not physicians and group practices will face penalties of up to 4% in 2019. Individual pathologists or group practices can stop the penalty by reporting at least one quality measure in 2017. The MIPS program is part of the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP) and is the next evolution of three quality programs: Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHR), the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), and the Valuebased Payment Modifier (VM). The QPP reforms Medicare by receiving and validating physiciansubmitted data, providing performance feedback, determining MIPS scores, and adjusting payments.
The CAP has developed eight quality reporting measures specifically for pathologistshelping CAP members avoid tens of millions of dollars in Medicare penalties every year. The CAP has secured the inclusion of these measures in the MIPS program. In order to avoid penalties in 2019, practices must submit quality reporting data for 2017 no later than March 31, 2018.
By submitting data on one quality measure, a physician can stop the Medicare penalty. A physician can also attest to participating in a clinical practice improvement activity to stop the penalty. The CMS has not yet provided details on attestation but the CAP will keep members updated. Stay tuned for more MIPS related resources.
