The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) stands ready to help you understand and navigate the move to value-based reimbursement heralded by the MACRA legislation passed by Congress and beginning to be implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Now is the time to get started and here are six steps you can take immediately.

Six Steps to Prepare for the MACRA Quality Payment Program

  1. Learn about the Quality Payment Program (QPP) authorized by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). Visit the QPP website at qpp.cms.gov, and determine if you are in the Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS) or Advanced Alternate Payment Model (Advanced APM) track.

Even if you are exempt from the program in the first performance year (2017), you are encouraged to learn more about and participate in the Quality Payment Program on a voluntary basis beginning in 2017 to increase your likelihood of succeeding in subsequent years.

  1. Assess your performance under Medicare’s current quality programs:
  1. Review MIPS Quality measures and reporting mechanisms.
  2. Explore the list of clinical practice Improvement Activities.
  3. 5. Contact your EHR vendor to discuss the Advancing Care Information measures.
  4. Determine what track and which measures are most appropriate for your practice.

Assistance is available from NCMS and other professional organizations.  In addition, CMS has provided funding to organizations to help clinicians eligible for the QPP.  Additional technical assistance will be made available to small practices (15 or fewer eligible clinicians and solo practitioners) in 2017.
Watch the Bulletin and the NCMS website for more information on how to prepare for the QPP. Questions? Contact Melanie Phelps, [email protected].