Many physicians are asking whether they can opt out of Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which is replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate formula.
Well, probably not. But in any case, suggests Medscape, physicians can reduce their MIPS reporting burden by reporting with other physicians together in single submission.
“It would be administratively simple to report as a group,” says , founder and CEO of SA Ignite, a Chicago company that helps organizations manage value-based programs, told Medscape. Of course, this would be easier for a large practice or group of hospital-employed physicians with the staff and IT capabilities to centralize reporting.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) defines a clinical group as having at least two “eligible clinicians”. That could be a physician and a nurse practitioner or physician assistant in one practice.
Under its proposed rule, CMS would let solo and small practices to get together in “virtual groups,” but owing to the difficulties of implementing such arrangements, this wouldn’t be possible in the first year of MIPS reporting.
Dr. Lee told Medscape that a downside of reporting in a group is that “you would have limited ability to choose specific measures. You may be forced to accept measures for activities where you don’t perform that well.”
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