Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is the law that changes how Providers are to be reimbursed. One of the key characteristics is that it rewards Providers based on value and not volume.
2. Disclaimer
"This information is not intended to be legal advice and does not
intend to create an attorney-client relationship. The information
hereby presented is for educational purposes only."
2
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4. Objectives
MACRA stands for Medicare Access and CHIP
Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and in this seminar,
you will learn the basics about this new quality
initiative.
5. What is MACRA?
Quality Initiative
•Merges Quality
Programs
•Identifies Quality
Measures
Philosophy
•Fee schedule and
politics
•Providers in control
7. Philosophy -
Intent
• Increase Utilization as Projected by the Office of the Actuary at the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
• National health expenditure growth is expected to average 5.5
percent annually over 2017-2026,
• Growth in national health spending is projected to be faster than
projected growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.0
percentage point over 2017-2026.
• Projected the health share of GDP is projected to rise from
17.9 percent in 2016 to 19.7 percent by 2026.
• Inability to reduce fees.
• MACRA replaces the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
10. 2019 2020 2021 2022 +
4%
5%
7%
9%
4%
5%
7%
9%
Budget Neutral
Lowest 25% = maximum reduction
Exceptional performance bonuses can be up to
another 10% up to $500M available each year
from 2019 to 2024
MIPS will be a budget-neutral program. Total
upward and downward adjustments will be
balanced so that the average change is 0%.
APM Model will pay 5% Annual Bonuses in
Lump Sums.
Performance Threshold
Mean/Median CPS
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2019 2020 2021 2022
12% 15% 21% 27%
Maximum Payment for High Performers
13. Exceptions
• ≤ $90,000 in allowed Part B charges
• ≤ 200 Part B beneficiaries seen during the
determination period
• ≤ 200 in allowed Part B professional
services
• Clinicians new to Medicare
Note: Individual clinicians may participate in MIPS if any one
or two of the above thresholds are exceeded, but not all
three.
14. How it
works
Two Parts (APM or MIPS)
MIPS
• Quality
• Cost
• Promoting Interoperability
• Improvement Activities
Four Categories
16. MACRA
Models
Advanced Alternative
Payment Models (APMs)
Higher risk model
Risk is shared throughout APM
Limited number of acceptable
models
Rules to being considered a
qualified provider (QP)
Merit Based Incentive
Program (MIPS)
Designed for individuals and
small group practices
Not all or nothing. Can receive
partial credit. Incentive based on
sliding scale.
Replaces all current incentive
programs
Fee for service with adjustments
based on performance
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Note: APM = Risk
Most Providers are expected to choose MIPS
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18. Quality
Similar to PQRS
• 45% in 2019
Weight
• 12 Month Performance Period
• About 300 quality measures
to pick from
• Report on 6 measures and
one outcome measure
Measures
19. 2019 Quality
Measures
Changes
• Groups may submit and be scored on quality measures
using more than one “collection type.”
• Scores for same measure may vary depending on
benchmarks tied to the measures collection
• Small group practices may report via the claims
reporting mechanism
• 10 new quality measures
• Removed 26 “topped-out” measures
• Topped out measure as one whose median
performance is 95 percent or higher.
20. 2019 Topped-out measures
• May make it difficult for practices to receive the
maximum number of points
• Will be phased out over a four-year timeline
• Measures are normally capped to a lower maximum
score, followed by the measure’s removal entirely
Goal - incentivizing practices to choose other measures where considerable performance
improvement is more likely
21. Promoting
Interoperability
Formerly Advancing Care Information
Similar to Meaningful Use
• Weight
• 25% in 2019
• Measures
• 90 Consecutive Days Performance Period
• Almost all the 2018 MIPS measures were
either removed or modified
• Fall under one of four objectives
• e-Prescribing,
• Health Information Exchange
• Provider to Patient Exchange, and
• Public Health and Clinical Data
Exchange.
Annual security risk analysis must be reported
in order to score any points in this category.
22. 2019 Promoting
Interoperability Changes
• The total number of potential “Promoting
Interoperability” category points has
been reduced from 165 points in 2018 to
110 points in 2019
• The score is capped at 100 points
• 50-point base measure score has been
removed
• Changes have been made to this
category making it more challenging for
practices to achieve a high score
• Annual security risk analysis must be
reported in order score to any points in
the category.
23. 2019 Promoting
Interoperability Bonus
Clinicians, groups, and virtual groups
can earn 5 bonus points each for the
submission of these optional
measures:
• Query of Prescription Drug
Monitoring (PDMP)
• Verify Opioid Treatment Agreement
24. Improvement
Activities
•Weight
• 15% in 2019
•Measures
• 90 Consecutive Days
Performance Period
• No change in the number of
activities that MIPS eligible
clinicians have to report
• Total of 40 points.
25. 2019
Improvement
Activities
Change
• CMS is proposing more activities to choose
from and changes to existing activities for the
Inventory.
• Reporting
• Small practices and rural areas will keep
reporting on no more than 2 medium or 1
high-weighted activity to reach the highest
score.
• For group participation, only 1 MIPS eligible
clinician in a TIN
• 5% Promoting Interoperability bonus has been
removed
26. Cost
also known as
Resource Use
• Weight
• 15% in 2019
• Measures
• 12 Month Performance Period
• There is no reporting requirement
• CMS will calculate the clinician’s
performance using claims data
• Clinicians will be assessed on their
performance of Total per Capita Cost,
Medicare Spending per Beneficiary
(MSPB), and applicable episode-based
measuresSimilar to Value Based Modifier
27. 2019 Cost
Changes
•Increased weight to 15%*
•Eight episode-based cost
measures for the 2019
performance period
•Two types of episode-based
measures approved for 2019
• Procedural measures, and
• Acute Inpatient Medical Condition
measures
* This percentage can change if the measures' minimum case volumes are not met. If there are not
enough attributed beneficiaries for any of the 10 measures to be scored, the Cost performance
category percentage will be added to the Quality performance category.
28. Composite Performance Score (CPS) MIPS 2019
0-100 point
scale
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Interoperability
25% x Score
Quality
45% x Score
Cost
15% x Score
Improvement
15% x Score X 100
29. Reporting
Same Reporting Options as Year 2
• Individual
• Group
• 2 or more clinicians (NPIs) who have reassigned
their billing rights to a single TIN
• As an Advanced Alternative Payment Model
(APM) Entity
• Virtual Group
• solo practitioners and groups of 10 or fewer
eligible clinicians who come together “virtually”
(no matter what specialty or location) to
participate in MIPS for a performance period for
a year
31. Recommended Steps
ANALYZE GUIDELINES AND
CONDUCT COST COMPARISON
REVIEW RESOURCES AND
SELECT PLAN OF ACTION
USE PROFESSIONAL
ASSISTANCE AS NEEDED
32. Recommended
Resources
• Visit the 2019 Quality
Requirements page and explore
the 2019 measures on the QPP
website.
• https://qpp.cms.gov/
• Review the 2019 Quality
Performance Category Fact Sheet
on the QPP Resource Library.
33. Dr. Jose I. Delgado
Taino Consultants Inc., CEO
DrDelgado@tainoconsultants.com
tainoconsultants.com
33
MACRA 101
April 2019