Clinical Data RegistryMACRAMedical Decision-MakingMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Performance ImprovementQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingRegistry ScienceResearch
July 19, 2016

MACRA Match-up: How EHR Source Data Will Benefit Registry Research

At the core of MACRA and MIPS requirements, Electronic Health Record (EHR) source data will soon become a key component for Registry research. Specifically, Clinical Performance Improvement Activities (CPIAs) are a required component of MIPS. Performance improvement efforts will no longer be optional. Quality data will be essential. EHRs present an excellent data resource, but the data is not flawless. Registries are well suited for validating data and assessing performance using a continuous improvement model—testing an idea by changing a practice and measuring its impact. When done on a small scale, testing performance improvement activities and the feasibility of population-based…
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ACO ReportingAlternative Payment Models (APM)MACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Performance ImprovementQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue-Based Health Care
July 12, 2016

MIPS v APM: Which Is Your Best Bet?

If you’ve been watching the signals from CMS, you undoubtedly know by now that the current reimbursement structure under Medicare will end, to be replaced by a Quality Payment Program (QPP) that holds providers at risk for resource use and quality. The ensuing choices, however, are confusing. Providers can select one of two QPP tracks: Continue Fee for Service (FFS) and fall under the Merit Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or participate in an Alternative Payment Model (APM), such as a risk-based ACO. So, how do you know if MIPS or APM is the best way to go, and on what…
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Alternative Payment Models (APM)MACRAMeaningful UseMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)PQRS ReportingQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue ModifierValue-Based Health CareValue-Based Payment Modifier
June 21, 2016

MACRA Medicare: Customize MIPS Strategy to Your Practice’s Attributes

Under MACRA Medicare’s Proposed Rules, CMS anticipates that as many as 90 percent of providers will be part of MIPS’s first year, beginning January 1, 2017. That includes providers in ACOs that don’t bear enough risk for exemption, providers who reported PQRS and Meaningful Use, as well as those who did nothing, “waiting out” Medicare’s plans. Not only is the wait over, but only about half a year remains until MIPS begins. And the challenges won’t fall evenly across provider groups. Size, specialty and support will weigh heavily into MIPS success. A customized MIPS strategy is your key to avoiding the…
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ACO ReportingAlternative Payment Models (APM)Future of Health CareMACRAMeaningful UseMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Population HealthPQRS ReportingQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue ModifierValue-Based Health Care
June 7, 2016

Proposed MACRA Rules: Your APM Strategy for Risk Readiness

If you chose not to participate in Medicare ACOs or Bundled Payments in recent years, CMS is planning to change your mind. Proposed MACRA Rules reveal a complex carrot-and-stick approach to inducing providers into risk models. Make no mistake: it’s just a matter of when, not if, you participate in one of the Alternative Payment Models (APMs). It will pay (literally) to begin planning your path to risk now. Here are five important provisions in the Proposed Rules that you need to understand: Full qualification as an Advanced APM earns a 5 percent lump sum bonus, exemption from participation in…
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Alternative Payment Models (APM)Clinical IntegrationFuture of Health CareMACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Performance ImprovementValue-Based Health Care
May 17, 2016

3 Ways Proposed MACRA Rules Revive Health Systems’ Clinical Integration Programs

Clinical Integration in medium to large Health Systems just received a nice push from the federal government’s Proposed Rules for MACRA. Health Systems trying to market quality-based physician and hospital networks systems— especially those with both employed and private physicians—should take note. This opportunity for Health Systems to bridge Medicare and private health plan quality is one of the best features of MACRA. Why? Look at this triple play of provisions woven through both MIPS and APMs: “Other-Payer” Advanced APMs will be allowed in the program’s third year to meet Advanced APM status by participating in both Health Plan and Medicare…
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Alternative Payment Models (APM)MACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Qualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue-Based Health Care
May 10, 2016

Proposed MACRA Rules Boost QCDR Development

One of the promises fulfilled by the new Proposed MACRA Rules, released April 27, is to position the Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) front and center. In fact, the Rules place the QCDR on par with the EHR in the spectrum of Health Care Information Technology (HIT) and give it special emphasis in Performance Improvement. Yet the QCDR is mysterious to most providers. While providers and heath systems try to sort through all of MACRA recalculations for provider gain or loss under the new Quality Payment Programs, it can be easy to miss the simultaneous revolution in HIT to support…
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Alternative Payment Models (APM)MACRAMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)Performance ImprovementPQRS ReportingQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue ModifierValue-Based Health CareValue-Based Payment Modifier
May 3, 2016

Know the F.A.C.T.S.: 2016 Proposed MACRA Rule Highlights

Just over a year since the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) passed, the new Proposed MACRA Rule was released on April 27. Now we finally have some details on how Fee For Service will yield to reimbursement through value. There’s a lot to digest in this hefty rule and a great deal at stake, including hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and incentives. Here’s what you need to know about the proposal and how it affects you. And if you have concerns, be sure to speak up during the 60-day comment period! As anticipated, Alternative…
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ACO ReportingClinical Data RegistryMeaningful UseQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingSpecialized RegistryValue-Based Health Care
February 15, 2016

ICLOPS Specialized Registry Now Open: Don’t Miss 2-29 Deadline for Active Engagement in 2016 MU Public Health Reporting

Attention, Eligible Providers and Hospitals looking for a Specialized Registry to meet public health reporting requirements in Modified Stage 2 of Meaningful Use: ICLOPS is open for business. ICLOPS Specialized Registry services will support both Eligible Providers, regardless of specialty, and Eligible Hospitals, plus all eCQMs. Since CMS finalized the modifications to the Meaningful Use program in October 2015, providers have been scrambling to find information on public health reporting options. While some providers are already connected to their specialty registries or to state and local immunization registries, many Eligible Providers have been without options for meeting this requirement. There is…
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Clinical Data RegistryMedical Decision-MakingPerformance ImprovementRegistry ScienceResearchValue-Based Health Care
February 9, 2016

Plenty of Data, Not Enough Answers: What We Need to Improve Health Care Performance

If you read the industry hype, you might believe that we’ve left the data wasteland for the data land of plenty. Some health care technology and analytics companies allege that, with all this enhanced data capability, you can now discover everything you need to know about your operations and patients that will lead you to higher profitability. But if that’s so, why are health care costs continuing to increase? Why are providers still not able to succeed under risk-based payment models? Why don’t we know more about what actually works to improve patient outcomes? It’s true that we have access…
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Clinical Data RegistryFuture of Health CareMeaningful UseMedical Decision-MakingPerformance Improvement
November 24, 2015

Putting the “Meaning” in MU Public Health Reporting: 
How to Move Beyond “Check the Box”

Can Medicare influence health care delivery via the “public health” reporting requirements of the EHR Incentive Program? That question is central to the updated EHR Incentive Program (more commonly known as Meaningful Use, or “MU”). The answer boils down to a fundamental choice: whether providers view the external reporting Objective as just one more compliance effort, or an opportunity to improve. Apart from governmental reporting, Modified Stage 2 of MU requires eligible providers to submit data reporting to one of three types of “public health” registries: immunization, syndromic surveillance and Specialized Registries. This is reporting for the public good, and…
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