If you are not familiar with the Merit-based Incentive Payment system for Medicare/Medicaid providers, then I suggest you start with the CMS overview to get acquainted. MIPS is the quality payment program (QPP) for clinic providers. As far as payment programs go, it is a big deal. Let’s look at the high points.
Each physician practice is scored in 4 weighted categories that make up a final MIPS score. The score determines the annual payment adjustment (increase or penalty) that a practice will receive. MIPS eligible clinicians that do not report, face a 9% payment penalty, up from 7% in 2019. This is a huge amount of dollars at stake for any practice. It is important that physicians understand MIPS and have the tools and technology to make reporting as painless as possible.
The MIPS categories:
| Category | Weight | Significant Changes from 2019 |
| Quality | 45% | Data completeness threshold = 70% of Medicare patients. |
| Cost | 15% | 10 new episode-based cost measures |
| Promoting Interoperability | 25% | No significant changes |
| Improvement Activities | 15% | Increased the physician practice participation threshold to 50% |
Finally, the total required MIPS points in 2020 to avoid penalty is 45 (up from 30 in 2019). For 2021, the number is 60 points. To receive a bonus payment, a practice must reach the “exceptional performance” threshold, which increased from 75 in 2019 to 85 in 2020 and 2021.
Meeting MIPS requirements is getting more difficult each year, with a lot at stake. Provider practices need the analytics tools to segment their patient population and pull the needed data for quality, cost, interoperability, and improvement measures. The Novomedici EHR is designed to make the MIPS process much less stressful, with the tools and reports at your fingertips.
Features like:
- Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT), 2015 edition – which is required by CMS for MIPS.
- Ease of integration and customization – adaptability to your practice.
- API/HL7 Integrations to mesh all your disparate data into one meaningful source.
- Cloud-based software that works wherever you are.
- Ready-made templates that incorporate best practices and clinical flow
- Fewer touch points for your data – which equals less opportunity for expensive errors.
- Customized reports and dashboards to manage your practice and create improvements.
MIPS reporting is only one way that we are transforming physician practices. Novomedici wants to partner with you to optimize success in everything your practice does. Spending more time with patients is always a priority, and our voice-recognition software and simplified design can make that a reality. Telehealth is exploding across the country since the pandemic, and Novomedici has state-of-the-art solutions. For a demo of all the features available, please contact us and enjoy being prepared for MIPS 2021!