CMS www.cms.gov has released the final policy implementing the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) incentive provisions included in the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) referred to as the Quality Payment Program.
MACRA, will gradually transform Medicare payments for more than 600,000 clinicians across the country. The new website established for the Quality Payment Program is at http://app.cms.gov
MACRA creates two different payment paths beginning in 2017. MIPS creates a streamlined pay-for-performance program in traditional Medicare. The second APMs offer financial incentives for participation in risk bearing advanced alternative payment models.
The association “Council of Accountable Physician Practices” CAPG) http://accountablecaredoctors.org, is expressing the voice of physician organizations practicing capitated coordinated care. CAPG includes a membership of more than 250 multispecialty medical groups and independent practice associations across 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
“MACRA will significantly and positively transform physician payment and more importantly, patient care,” said CAPG President and CEO Don Crane. “We look forward to reviewing the final rule in depth and then providing detailed education and guidance to the physician community.”
Crane added, “The final rule moves the nation in the right direction from the flawed volume-based incentives of fee-for-service reimbursement to a value based system that rewards high-quality coordinated care. Our members have demonstrated the benefits of pay-for-performance and alternative payment models over several decades in the form of superior service and patient experience.”
However, CAPG is concerned that the final rule does not extend advanced alternative payment model status for physician groups taking risk in Medicare Advantage. CAPG is planning to work with Congress and CMS to ensure equal consideration for delivery system transformation for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who now make up nearly a third of the Medicare population,” reports Crane.