Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent organization that assesses the Medicare program and makes recommendations on payment policy. In the release of their annual report, they have recommended a redesign of the MIPS reporting system. One suggested change is to eliminate the reporting for eligible clinicians through MIPS. Data would be reported on population health measures automatically through claims and surveys. MedPAC also suggests assessing performance and adjusting payment based on performance at a group or local area level.
Another recommendation is to speed up the changeover from MIPS participation to Advanced APM participation providing a less restrictive definition of Advanced APMs to make this option more available. Under APMs a change in the bonus criteria is suggested so bonuses are tied to performance and eligible clinicians are not just provided with an automatic 5% bonus for participation. Additionally, changing qualification for the bonus from a percentage of MPFS revenue to a percentage of total revenue was noted.
Congress will review MedPAC’s recommendations and will determine if changes should be made.