ASA Urges MedPAC to Ease Use of Hospital Quality Reporting

In a formal comment letter to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), ASA conveyed its concerns about proposed changes to current approaches to hospital quality reporting and incentives and how the changes would impact use of inpatient measures in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program. Starting in 2019, eligible clinicians who meet certain thresholds would be able to use their hospital’s Valued-based Purchasing Program (VBP) scores as a proxy for their Quality and Cost scores within the MIPS program. A significant number of physician anesthesiologists may qualify for this option and might consider using it for their 2019 MIPS reporting. ASA submitted this letter to MedPAC as part of efforts to ensure that physician anesthesiologists have ample opportunities for success in the MIPS program.

During its meeting on April 5, MedPAC discussed the proposal that would significantly change the approaches to hospital quality reporting and incentives and would merge the processes into a new program called the Hospital Value Incentive Program (HVIP).