Contents tagged with CMS

  • 2017 and MACRA are on the way, but now you can pick your pace

    Tags: MACRA, CMS, medicare, Quality Payment Program

    By Perdita Henry

    The march from volume-to-value by way of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 has been steady, and as we prepare to meet 2017, anxiety about the new Quality Payment Program has left many wondering what hurdles they will have to face.

    CMS recently announced the Pick Your Pace Program, specifically designed to assist medical providers at different readiness levels as they prepare for MACRA. The announcement was a welcomed development by AAFP Board Chair Robert Wergin, MD, who took it as a sign that CMS not only took into account AAFP’s comment letter in reference to MACRA but also realized physician success in implementing the new payment program benefits everyone in the health care community.

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  • What should you know about Medicare's new quality payment program?

    Tags: Quality improvement program, medicare, TMF, APMs, MIPS, QRUR, CMS, PQRS

    By Suzie Buhr, BSN, RN, CPHQ
    Quality Improvement Consultant for TMF Health Quality Institute

     

    Just when your physician practice successfully participated in the Physician Quality Reporting System or achieved Meaningful Use with your electronic health record, along comes a new payment program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services. Beginning next year, your practice will be evaluated for the data you report in 2017, which will affect payments in 2019. The good news is by participating in PQRS and meaningful use now, you are moving in the right direction. The work you are doing for those programs will help you transition to participating in either the Merit-based Incentive Payment System or the Alternative Payment Model program. What do you need to know now to prepare for the transition?

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