Earlier this year the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2017 Quality Payment Program (QPP) Experience Report. This is the most recent MIPS reporting data available. This report and its appendix highlight participation in the first year of the QPP. Providers had two options for participating: the Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIPS) or Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs). Due to the nature of these programs, the vast majority of urologists participated in MIPS.
Overall participation for MIPS in 2017 was 95 percent, and urology was close to that at 93 percent with nearly 11,000 eligible urologist participating. The following chart details urology participation by state. Many states were well over the 95 percent mark with some states achieving 100 percent participation. Of note is the number of urologists who participated in MIPS APMs. This status straddles the qualifications between MIPS and advanced APMs. For more information on this, visit QPP.CMS.GOV.
It should be noted that 2017 was the introductory year of MIPS, and CMS offered a “Pick Your Pace” option, where providers could get full credit for participation even if they only reported one measure for one patient in one category. CMS notes that an overwhelming percentage of providers chose to report for the full year versus only a portion of the year; however, they do not provide statistics on this by specialty.
For more information about the 2017 experience report on MIPS reporting, visit the Quality Payment Program website or call 866-288-8292.