In the first year of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) — one of two tracks in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) — 93 percent of eligible clinicians will receive a positive payment adjustment for their performance. Five percent of MIPS-eligible clinicians will receive a negative payment adjustment, and 2 percent will see no adjustment.
More than 1 million MIPS-eligible clinicians will receive a neutral payment adjustment or better, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) performance year 2017 data. Among rural practices in particular, 28 percent earned a positive payment adjustment and 65 percent earned an additional adjustment for exceptional performance.
In an accompanying blog post, CMS Administrator Seema Verma noted that modest positive payment adjustments resulted, in part, because the funds are limited by budget neutrality requirements under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. Verma urged stakeholders to share feedback on how to shape the QPP in future performance years.
America’s Essential Hospitals has established a resource page dedicated to the QPP. Visit this page regularly for new and updated information.
Contact Senior Director of Policy Erin O’Malley at eomalley@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.