Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it would offer four options for physicians to participate in the new Quality Payment Program in 2017 under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt promised that final rules would be out by Nov. 1.
Thursday didn’t bring the rules, though CMS did offer some clarity and more flexibility — but also raised new questions — in terms of reducing the administrative burden and increasing clinician participation.
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CMS introduced what the agency called a “long-term effort,” led by in-house physicians, to get medical practitioners involved in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM) programs that MACRA created.
Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt appointed Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, director of the CMS Center for Program Integrity, to engage clinicians in the development and implementation of MACRA. Slavitt also said each of the 10 CMS regions around the country would be holding local meetings over the next six months to solicit input from practicing physicians.
“As we implement the Quality Payment Program under MACRA, we cannot do it without making a sustained, long-term commitment to take a holistic view on the demands on the physician and clinician workforce,” Slavitt said in a prepared statement. “The new initiative will launch a nationwide effort to work with the clinician community to improve Medicare regulations, policies, and interaction points to address issues and to help get physicians back to the most important thing they do – taking care of patients.”
This will start with an 18-month pilot program aimed at reducing medical review for some doctors participating in certain Advanced APMs, according to CMS.
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These steps seemed to appease one of the most vocal critics of proposed MACRA rules that circulated in the spring and early summer.
“The American Medical Association (AMA) welcomes this new initiative to reduce regulatory burdens on physicians and sees CMS’ pilot to eliminate medical review for Advanced Alternative Payment Models as a notable first step in the agency’s new effort to lessen the regulatory burden for physicians,” AMA President Dr. Andrew W. Gurman said in a press release.
“Acting Administrator Slavitt is leading a timely effort to be responsive to physicians’ concerns,” Gurman added.
CMS and White House officials will hold a press briefing Friday morning to offer additional comment on this plan and possibly preview the final MACRA regs.
Shortly thereafter, new national health IT coordinator Dr. Vindell Washington and staff from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will host a call with reporters to “discuss steps ONC is taking to strengthen” the health IT certification program.
Certification of electronic health records is one component of the Meaningful Use EHR incentive program that has spent some $35 billion since 2011 with mixed results. Meaningful Use is being rolled into the MIPS and APM programs.
Photo: Flickr user UK Ministry of Defence
