Fraser Cobbe
Orange County Medical Society
Seminole County Medical Society
With October 1st rapidly approaching our organizations are reminding physicians that time is running out to execute your plan for quality reporting in 2017. If you have decided to report 90 consecutive days, then October is really the final target date for you to have secured your reporting mechanism and instituted a plan to maximize your composite score and secure bonus payments from Medicare in 2019.
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) required the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to discontinue the PQRS quality reporting program at the end of the 2016 reporting year and replaced it with the Merit Incentive Payment Program (MIPS). This new program requires reporting by eligible clinicians (EC) for the 2017 reporting year ending March 31, 2018.
The OCMS has entered into a strategic partnership with Mingle Analytics to provide an option for our members to report. After conducting a significant amount of due diligence, we determined that the registry submission is ideal for society members. The registry method is highly reliable as evidenced by its average submission success rate of 93%. By comparison, the claims submission method, succeeds at a rate of only 40%. The dramatic advantage of the registry submission method traces to its ability to review, manipulate and select the best measures prior to submission.
Mingle Analytics has achieved an outstanding 99+% success rate every year since 2012 and national recognition for stellar client support. Their Client Services support team prides itself for responding quickly to client needs for information, knowledgeable advice and friendly assistance. This has made it an easy decision to partner with Mingle Analytics for MIPS in 2017.
We cannot stress enough however, whether you decide to use Mingle Analytics or your EMR system or another vendor, the time to activate your plan is now. MIPS is a competitive arena where the bonuses paid to some physicians are funded through reductions in reimbursement to other physicians. While CMS has lowered the risk this first year, it makes total sense to use this year as a test run to identify measures and processes that are going to increase your success in future years. We hope our partnership and educational resources will increase your reimbursement in this new environment.
Learn More About MACRA and MIPS
The Mingle Analytics eBook, Understanding Medicare's New Quality Payment Program, describes the MACRA program, provides detailed information about MIPS and its four performance categories, and how prepare for success in 2017. The document is downloadable at their website. Here is the link: https://mingleanalytics.com/resource-center/