What would a New Year be like without a new acronym to learn? MIPS stands for Medicare’s Merit Based Incentive Program System now scheduled to begin in just three years (2019).
Before you take another sip of eggnog, you might want to tag this blog for later reading because MIPS is going to be a big deal. Over the next seven years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to have 75 percent of Medicare payments flowing through value-based payment models like MIPS that reward providers for delivering lower cost, higher quality care.
MIPS could cause as much as a 30 percent in provider organization payments, according a recent article in Modern Healthcare. “Under MIPS, the CMS will give bonuses to Medicare-eligible providers who have low cost and high quality,” Dr. Bill Bithoney, a managing director with BDO Consulting told the magazine.
CMS is getting loads of feedback on MIPS. At last count, the feedback ran to about 50 pages. Calls to delay the rule’s implementation and grant hardship exemptions were consistent themes in the feedback according to Fierce EMR. Others called for Meaningful Use Stage 3 to be better aligned with MIPS.
Under legislation passed earlier this year, MIPS replaces the sustainable growth rate formula as the primary method for determining payments for physicians’ services, according to Modern Healthcare. MIPS has four categories: meaningful use, quality, clinical practice improvement and cost (resource use).
Okay, you can go back to the holiday merry making at this point. We’ll have much time later to mull over how this new law will impact physician groups. Happy New Year!
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