The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this week that they have opened field testing of five episode-based cost measures for potential use in the cost performance category of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). The field testing is underway now and will conclude on February 25, 2022. The cost measures are as follows:
1. Emergency Medicine
2. Heart Failure
3. Low Back Pain
4. Major Depressive Disorder
5. Psychoses/Related Conditions
Anesthesiologists and their groups who fall within the attribution requirements (reporting at least 20 episodes associated with one or more of the measures) will receive a Field Test Report, accessible through the Quality Payment Program website, to provide information on cost performance based on the draft measure specifications. The measure period for the reports is January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. CMS notes that the information in these reports will be used for field testing purposes only. For more information on how to access Field Test Reports, please see the user guide provided by CMS.
Not every group will receive a field test report.
Stakeholders can voluntarily provide feedback on each of the above measures via CMS’ online survey, which will close at the end of the field testing period: 11:59 PM ET on February 25, 2022. Stakeholders can provide feedback on the draft measure specifications regardless of whether they received Field Test Reports. Consult the MACRA Feedback Page for reference resources to help guide feedback.
Click here for the episode-based cost measure specifications.
For more information on MIPS, visit ASA’s resource web page.
Please contact the Anesthesia Quality Institute at [email protected] or the ASA Department of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at [email protected] with any further questions.