CMS releases performance results for year one of MACRA QPP

Ninety-three percent of all clinicians eligible for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System who participated in the 2017 Quality Payment Program will receive a positive payment adjustment in 2019, and 95 percent will avoid a negative payment adjustment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported today.
 
“Admittedly, the MIPS positive payment adjustments are modest,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma wrote in a blog post outlining the results of the first year of the QPP. “It is important to remember that the funds available for positive payment adjustments are limited by the budget neutrality requirements in MIPS, as established by law under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015.”
 
The blog post also notes that 99,076 eligible clinicians qualified for the advanced alternative payment model track during 2017, qualifying them for a five percent bonus payment in 2019. Verma said the agency continues to look for ways to improve the QPP “to help drive value, reduce burden, promote meaningful participation by clinicians, and improve outcomes for beneficiaries,” and encouraged clinicians, stakeholders, and others to share feedback to “help identify areas of immediate need as well as shape the program for future performance years.”
 
In related news, the agency has released a list of CMS-sponsored multi-payer payment arrangements that will qualify as advanced APMs for performance year 2019 under the QPP’s all-payer combination option.