You Should Expect Big MIPS Changes Under 2019 Quality-Reporting Proposals
Major changes are in store for the Merit-based Inventive Payment System (MIPS) in 2019, as the Trump administration pushes to reduce the record-keeping burden shouldered by clinicians. Continue reading, below, for why you should be prepared for these changes as soon as next year.nnIn a slate of proposals released late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlined 10 new quality measures it would like to add to the MIPS program, plus dozens it wants to remove. The measures on the chopping block are process-based items clinicians have identified as “low-value or low-priority,” CMS said.nnThe agency also proposed changes to the MIPS “promoting interoperability” performance category. The changes are designed to improve interoperability of electronic health record (EHR) data, give patients easier access to their own health data, and align the performance category with a similar proposal for hospitals.nnThese proposed changes to the Quality Payment Program are good news, said Gerald Maccioli, MD, MBA, FCCM, chief quality officer for Envision Healthcare.nn”As a country, we continue on a positive and productive pathway to figuring out how to use quality measures to markedly improve the health of our communities, and with the proposed changes CMS is moving in the right direction,” Maccioli said in a statement.n
nThis article was originally posted on healthleadersmedia.com
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hopes physicians would no longer have to predict how much longer a particular Medicare patient will need home care in order to have the service re-certified, according to a regulation they proposed Monday. nn”In an effort to make improvements to the health care delivery system and to reduce unnecessary burdens for physicians, CMS is proposing to eliminate the requirement that the certifying physician estimate how much longer skilled services are required when recertifying the need for continued home health care,” the agency said in a fact sheet about the proposed rule.nn”This proposal is responsive to industry concerns about regulatory burden reduction and could reduce claims denials that solely result from an estimation missing from the recertification statement. We estimate that this proposal would result in annualized cost savings to certifying physicians of $14 million beginning in [calendar year] 2019.”nnIn addition to eliminating that requirement, “we’re releasing several proposals to modernize Medicare by increasing access to remote patient monitoring,” CMS administrator Seema Verma said Monday on a phone call with reporters.nn”This will allow more patients to share real-time data [with providers]. Last year we made changes to allow physicians to bill for remote patient monitoring,” she said. “Home health agencies, however, couldn’t bill for the new code. So in today’s proposal we address that disparity.”nnCMS also is beginning to implement a new home infusion therapy benefit — using a transitional payment until the full benefit takes effect in 2021 — and proposing health and safety standards for home infusion therapy.n
Join us for an open house to gain more information about the changes that are coming to health care this summer. We will discuss the next phase of the Accountable Care Collaborative (ACC 2.0), Colorado’s innovative approach to improving the experience and outcomes of both physical and behavioral health care services for people who are part of Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program). Learn how these changes will affect you and your patients.
On June 11, the CDC posted the 
The month-long window is the shortest turnaround from a state and doesn’t exempt the healthcare sector, effectively giving Colorado providers just half the time required by HIPAA to report. Check out the article for more information! nnColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law expansive consumer data legislation that mandates all organizations report breaches within 30 days, making it the shortest turnaround for any state.nnThere are no exemptions from the notification rule, meaning healthcare organizations must report within 30 days — half the time required by HIPAA. The legislation updates the state’s current notification language that states notification must happen without “reasonable delay.”nnIntroduced in January, the bill unanimously passed in the State House Committee. The aim is to drastically improve privacy and security for all organizations within the state.nnThe legislation overlaps with HIPAA requirements, as lawmakers added medical and health insurance identification data to the types of information covered by the law.nnAnd if there’s “a conflict between the time period for notice to individuals [under Colorado law or federal regulation or law], the law or regulation with the shortest time frame for notice to the individual controls,” the bill states.n