ACO ReportingClinical Data RegistryFuture of Health CareMeaningful UseMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
November 10, 2015

Questions You Should Ask (or Should Have) About Medicare’s Alternative Payment Models

Are you prepared for your risk or reward under Medicare payment reforms? It’s hard to give up current revenues that reward volume, sooner than absolutely necessary. That’s the dilemma facing all providers who realize that Medicare is serious about moving 50 percent of its provider reimbursement to Alternative Payment Models (APMs) by the end of 2018. While some providers have rushed into the new system while Medicare still allows for failure to meet targets, others are waiting (including many higher cost academic medical centers). Here’s what to ask before plunging in—and if you’re already in, how to right the ship.…
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Clinical Data RegistryMeaningful UseMerit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
November 3, 2015

Making the Most of Meaningful Use: How the “Specialized Registry” Can Secure Your Future in MIPS

Good health care requires insight. That’s the message under Medicare’s new Medicare Meaningful Use rules for 2015 through 2017, giving providers the option to use a Specialized Registry to meet the Public Health Reporting Objective. The new rule also lays out how a Clinical Data Registry (CDR) will fit into this and other MU objectives in the future. Both the Specialized Registry and the CDR reflect a significant opportunity. Why? Because as these Registries collect, analyze and show data from providers who will need to report in order to be in compliance with Medicare, there will be a lot of…
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PQRS ReportingQualified Clinical Data Registry ReportingValue-Based Payment Modifier
December 30, 2014

New Year’s Resolution: Know the Difference Between PQRS and Meaningful Use

No one wants another CMS penalty letter this coming year. Especially after the past two weeks, when many providers from coast to coast learned that their Medicare Part B reimbursements in 2015 will be cut by 1.5 percent, since they were eligible but did not participate in PQRS 2013. Caught by surprise, some providers were shocked to discover that their successful participation in Meaningful Use (MU) did not fulfill PQRS requirements—and they were hit with the penalty. It certainly pays to understand the difference between these two Medicare initiatives. Both MU and PQRS are intended to improve the level of care…
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PQRS ReportingQualified Clinical Data Registry Reporting
December 16, 2014

Season’s Greetings from CMS: You Owe 1.5 Percent for a PQRS Reporting Failure

‘Tis the season to be jolly—unless your health care organization is one of many last week that received a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) informing you that at least one of your providers was eligible to participate in PQRS in 2013, but failed to do so—and that a penalty is coming in 2015. Those who did not successfully report at least one PQRS measure in 2013 will only be reimbursed 98.5 percent on all allowable 2015 Medicare Part B charges—a 1.5 percent cut.   Ready or Not, the Penalties Were Based on 2013 PQRS Reporting…
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