2018 QPP Resources: An Early Christmas Gift!

I am going to keep the content light on this Christmas Eve because, let’s face it, it’s been a wild year and we all would like to kick up our feet and relax. Therefore, we’re going to aggregate all your 2018 Quality Payment Program (QPP) resources in one spot. Happy clicking!

Acumen Blog:

• 2018 QPP Overview – Take a quick crash course into the 2018 QPP program.
• MIPS Hardship – Hardship exceptions are available to clinicians who meet certain criteria that prevents them from using a certified electronic health record system, which is required for participation in the promoting interoperability (PI) performance category of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Hardships for the entire MIPS program are also available to those who were impacted by extreme/uncontrollable circumstances. If you are eligible for a hardship, hurry and submit your application by 12/31/2018!
• The Money in MIPS – MIPS is a budget-neutral program. This blog post details why your positive payment adjustment may not be as great as you expected it to be.
• MIPS and Small Practice Relief – CMS has identified several perks for small practices (a TIN of 15 or fewer clinicians). If you are in a small practice, take a read to see what options are available to you.
• Promoting Interoperability in 2018 – Although the actual title states “Advancing Care Information,” this blog post still rings true for the newly renamed Promoting Interoperability portion of MIPS.
• Quality – The quality category of MIPS makes up 50% of your total MIPS score. Understanding measure selection, measure submission, and the case of the “topped out” measure is very important when assembling your MIPS quality strategy.
• 2018 MIPS Bonus Points – How well you perform isn’t the only way to succeed under MIPS. A lot of clinicians can boost their MIPS score by passively collecting bonus points.
• MIPS Group Reporting – The decision of whether you should report as a group or as an individual under MIPS is not a simple one. There are many factors to consider. In some cases, 2 heads may not be better than one!
• MIPS Virtual Groups – Read the blog post above first. Then, if you are still intrigued by group reporting, this post explains how CMS created an additional layer of complexity with virtual groups! At a very high level, a virtual group is a collection of small TINs that agree to report all categories of MIPS as a single unit.
• MIPS Data Submission – Although this blog post is specific to the 2017 reporting year, a lot of the information is still relevant for this year. This won’t be the last time we blog about data submission – expect a big 2018 MIPS submission guide from us in the new year!
• APM 101 – Alternative payment models, or APMs, represent new ways to pay for health care. This blog post gives you a quick crash course on what an APM is and the different flavors within the QPP.
• Patients Contribute to QPP – Dr. Maddux dives into the role patients play in the QPP along with studies on how patients are accessing their data today.
• QPP in 2018 – Having some fun with NPRM numbers, Dr. Ketchersid explains the cost differences between those who face MIPS vs those who are in an AAPM.
• HIE and Trusted Exchange Frameworks – Although not directly related to the QPP, interoperability will soon become the main star of success in programs like MIPS, and directives like TEFCA will hopefully pave the way for an infrastructure to retrieve aggregated health data both easily and safely.

CMS QPP Website:

• QPP Main Website – The main hub, which includes the sign in page when you are ready to attest for the MIPS program.
• CMS QPP Resource Library – The holy grail of resources, with a search box and filters to make it easier to find what you are looking for.
• QPP Participation Status Lookup – Everyone should check to see if they are required to report MIPS data.
• QPP Access and Role Management – For more information on creating an account and gaining access to organizations for PY 2018 data submission and more, download the QPP Access User Guide.
• 2018 Comprehensive List of APMs – Includes a list of the different types of APMs and Advanced APM determinations based on final criteria.
• 2018 Advanced APM Qualifying Participant (QP) Methodology Fact Sheet – Provides an overview of the determination of Qualifying Participants (QPs) and Partial QPs, as well as how CMS will identify eligible clinicians participating in Advanced APMs and how to calculate payment amount threshold scores.

And, finally…

• Email the QPP Helpdesk – Surprisingly, the QPP helpdesk is very quick to respond. My normal response time is somewhere between 24-48 hours. If you’d rather call, the helpdesk number is 1-866-288-8292.

Other notable resources:

• eCQI Resource Center – If you really wanted to get into the weeds of how an individual quality measure is designed and calculated, this is the website for you.
• CMS YouTube Channel – For those visual learners, CMS has put together a number of videos to help educate you on the QPP. Often, I will peak here first before digging around for PDFs.

That’s a wrap! We did a lot of talking about our good ole QPP in the past year. 2019 will be another year filled with insight into this overly complex program. Until then, we hope you have a restful and fulfilling holiday!

Diana Strubler, Policy and Standards Senior Manager, joined Acumen in 2010 as an EHR trainer then quickly moved into the role of certification and health IT standards subject matter expert. She has successfully led Acumen through three certifications while also guiding our company and customers through the world of Meaningful Use, ICD-10 and PQRS.