What Is About MIPS That Is Making Physicians Unhappy?

This ongoing period is the MIPS 2018 reporting season! Physicians and MIPS consulting services have buckled up their shoes to assemble appropriate clinical data that best favors medical practice in terms of financial matters and physicians’ reputations.

MIPS QPP promises physicians to take their financial journey one-step more towards the progressive road leading to a better healthcare system. The eventual objective is to build a healthcare system that makes both patients and physicians happy; patients with value-based care service and physicians with accurate reimbursements, incentives, and bonuses.

From the past two years, physicians tend to have several reservations regarding MIPS. In their first year, they were not sure about reporting criteria and MIPS quality measures. However, for MIPS 2018 reporting period, physicians learned from their mistakes and performed to actually use this system to their benefit.

MIPS Quality Measures Are Huge Set Back for Physicians

Even though, CMS acted upon some reservations for 2018. Still, there are voices raised against MIPS 2018 to trap physicians within the penalty cycle that ultimately will lead to poor-quality services for patients.

• According to the research of members of the American College of Physicians, around 37% of the 86 MIPS quality measures are not up-to-the-mark and can’t contribute to improved quality care standards.
• Physicians also explained that the given measures are not meaningful. In addition, the investment made to improve the quality of these measures just increase the administrative cost.

Approximately, medical practices are spending $15.4 billion per year in the USA-healthcare industry that means about $40,000 per physician to report for MIPS.

There is a debate whether MIPS quality measures for the industry’s improvement are worth investment or not. Because, if they are not good enough, they are just a waste of money on the patient’s behalf.

For Instance,

According to Dr. Catherine MacLean (lead author of the analysis and chief value medical officer at the Hospital for Special Surgery), there is a quality measure that ensures all patients have a blood pressure of 140/90 or lower. However, this may be lower for some patients.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has raised similar concerns. Therefore, Problematic areas of MIPS need to be overcome in order to improve healthcare quality standards and the payment model.

CMS Website Should be Updated on a Regular Basis

Moreover, physicians were facilitated with an online database to view their status. However, the CMS website doesn’t update on a regular basis. This may have led physicians to not meet reporting standards on time. All of the practices rely on the information provided by CMS. If data is not updated duly on the site, how will physicians ensure the accuracy of MIPS requirements? After all, the ultimate burden would have to be bear by physicians as a penalty or less MIPS score.

CMS is trying to Rectify Errors in MIPS!

According to the spokesperson of the CMS, they are very dedicated to looking into every issue that is a hurdle in raising the quality levels of the healthcare system.

MIPS Success Depends Upon How Much CMS Pays Attention Towards Reservations!

The MIPS 2018 performance period is over however, it is compulsory for CMS to render each problem that is making physicians unhappy, rather than, forcing them to report aimlessly without any attraction.

Another way to ensure success in MIPS reporting is via hiring a professional MIPS consulting service as P3 Healthcare Solutions that provides the best MIPS solutions.