Physician specialists have more than 700 measures available for reporting under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System through Qualified Clinical Data Registries, according to a new analysis from Avalere. MIPS is the value-based physician payment program in Medicare fee-for-service, created under the Medicare Access CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015.
Under MIPS, physicians are required to report on three areas to receive bonus payments: performance against quality measures, practice improvement activities and the implementation of meaningful use components. One reporting option is a QCDR, a tool to collect data established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2014.
Beginning this year, clinicians participating in MIPS have to report on six quality measures to be eligible for a bonus payment. According to Avalere experts, the expanded list of QCDRs offers clinicians flexibility in meeting these reporting requirements by allowing them to report on measures more relevant to their specialty. QCDRs may also be a valuable vehicle to fill measure gaps for specialties where measures have not yet been developed.
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"Some physicians have expressed concern about the lack of meaningful specialty-focused quality measures available for reporting," said Nelly Ganesan, a senior director at Avalere, in a statement. "The QCDRs are one way to alleviate some of that concern."
Earlier this month, CMS released the 2017 QCDR list, which included 113 total registries, up 61 percent from the 69 approved registries in 2016. The increase in QCDRs makes 478 more measures available for reporting to clinicians, bringing the total to over 700. Given the availability of specialty measures within the QCDRs, specialists are likely to use the QCDR reporting option to meet their MIPS requirements. Some of the newly approved registries for 2017 include those from the American Psychiatric Association, the Collaborative Endocrine Surgery Quality Improvement Program and the Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants.
Avalere's experts say that, given the lengthy and resource-intensive process involved in measure development, specialty societies have opted out of developing new measures, resulting in a lack of available measures for reporting. QCDRs are one way in which specialty measures can be "tested" and used prior to inclusion into public and private value-based programs. Given the expanded use of QCDRs, more innovative and outcome-focused measures are likely to emerge.
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Kristi Mitchell, a senior vice president at Avalere, said in a statement that the shift toward using QCDRs for data collection is a "step in the right direction."
"The development of QCDRs will provide greater opportunities for engagement and innovative partnerships between industry, professional societies, and measure developers," she said. "That said, there will be an even greater need for CMS to harmonize all of the measures to eliminate redundancy and reduce reporting burden."
Twitter: @JELagasse