|
Key proposals for 2021 performance year of the Quality Payment Program include:
- Beginning Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Value Pathways (MVPs) implementation in 2022 instead of 2021
- Increasing the performance threshold from 45 points for the 2020 performance year to 50 points for 2021 (10 points less than the 60-point threshold finalized for 2021 in the CY 2020 PFS Rule)
- Revising performance category weights for Quality (decreases from 45% to 40%) and Cost (increases from 15% to 20%)
- Removing the CMS Web Interface as a collection type and submission type for reporting MIPS quality measures beginning with the 2021 performance period
- Sunsetting the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Scoring Standard and allowing MIPS eligible clinicians in APMs the option to participate in MIPS and submit data at the individual, group, or APM Entity level.
- Updating third party intermediary approval criteria as well as remedial action and termination criteria.
New APM Performance Pathway (APP) in 2021
Based on stakeholder feedback, CMS also proposes implementing an APP in 2021 that would be:
- Complementary to MVPs, composed of a fixed set of measures for each performance category
- Available only for MIPS eligible clinicians in MIPS APMs
- Reported by individual eligible clinicians, groups, or APM Entities
Performance category weights under the APP would be: 50% for Quality, 30% for Promoting Interoperability and 20% for Improvement Activities.
Key proposals for the Medicare Shared Savings Program include:
- For performance year 2020, waiving the requirement for ACOs to field a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) for ACOs survey and providing ACOs automatic full credit for CAHPS. In addition we are seeking comment on an alternative scoring methodology approach under the extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy for performance year 2020.
- For performance year 2021, requiring ACOs participating in the Shared Savings Program to report quality via the APP for purposes of determining shared savings and losses, instead of the CMS Web Interface, and reducing the number of measures ACOs are required to actively report from 10 to 3 while increasing the focus on patient outcomes
- Updating the quality performance standard, requiring ACOs to receive a quality score equivalent to the 40th percentile or above across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, and allowing ACOs that meet or exceed the threshold their maximum sharing rate or avoid owing maximum losses
Complex Patient Bonus COVID-19 Update in 2020
In addition to 2021 policies, this NPRM includes a proposal to increase the complex patient bonus from a 5- to 10-point maximum for clinicians, groups, virtual groups, and APM Entities for 2020 performance only to offset the additional complexity of their patient population due to COVID-19. Learn more about additional flexibilities implemented in response to the public health emergency on the QPP COVID-19 Response webpage.
| 
