Source: News Now, January 4, 2017, © American Academy of Family Physicians
Family physicians who are eligible for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) have a unique opportunity if they act quickly.
Sign up by Tuesday, January 31, to participate in a new Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) study, the Clinical Practice Improvement Activities (CPIA) and Measurement Study, and earn full credit for the CPIA performance category associated with MIPS.
Clinical practice improvement activities are defined by CMS as actions physicians can take to improve their clinical practice or care delivery that likely will result in improved health care outcomes for patients. Activities include expanding practice access, engaging in population management, utilizing care coordination, and stressing patient engagement and patient safety.
Study applications are available online and must be emailed to CMS by the last day of January.
CMS is conducting the study as directed by the MACRA final rule that requires the agency to ask for feedback from clinicians.
- Learn about clinical workflows and data collection with different systems, and
- Understand the challenges physicians face when they collect and report quality data.
CMS will then have information it needs to recommend approaches to help simplify the burden of data collection and reporting and, ultimately, help physicians improve the care they provide to patients.
- Participate in three CMS surveys
- Take part in at least three focus groups
- Send CMS at least three clinician quality performance measures.
Physicians also will benefit from direct feedback they receive from CMS and other study participants about strategies aimed at minimizing the challenges associated with collecting and submitting patient data.