Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 20 March 2017 by Allison Dickert Madson ASCRS Manager, Regulatory Affairs a penalty. Physicians who report more data in any of the categories will be eligible for a bonus payment. To participate fully in the program in 2017—and have the greatest chance of a bonus—physicians must report data for at least a 90-day per- formance period. In addition to flexibility for the first performance year, CMS made several other changes to make the program more workable for physicians. Among the changes ASCRS and the medical community suggested, CMS reduced the report- ing requirements from 90% of all patients if reporting through registry and 80% of Medicare Part B patients if reporting via claims to 50% of all patients for registry reporting or 50% of Part B patients via claims in 2017 for the Quality category (which replaces PQRS), reweighted the Resource Use category (which re- places the VBPM) to 0%, reduced the requirements in the ACI category, and reduced the number of required improvement activities. Despite the considerable changes, CMS did not reinstate the measures group option (such as cat- aract and diabetic retinopathy) for The MIPS program consolidates the current quality reporting pro- grams Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), EHR Meaningful Use, and the Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBPM)—and adds a new category, Improvement Activi- ties—into one program and gives providers a composite score based on their overall performance on the four components. Composite scores above a yearly benchmark will be awarded a bonus, those at the benchmark will be held harm- less, and those below will receive a penalty. In response to our chief rec- ommendation in comments on the proposed rule to delay the start of the program, CMS is offering several options for physicians to partici- pate in the new program in 2017 to avoid the penalty and have time to become familiar with the program and implement it. Reporting as little as one quality measure on one pa- tient and not meeting the measure benchmarks, reporting one improve- ment activity, or reporting the base measures of the EHR-based category, Advancing Care Information (ACI), will ensure providers do not receive back against steep cuts to retina and glaucoma procedures and secured major changes to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) burdensome data collection policy for global surgery codes. Read on for full details. MACRA: Making the program work for our members Following last year's successful advocacy by ASCRS and the medical community to repeal and replace the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), we continue to monitor, pro- vide input, and educate our mem- bers on implementation of MACRA. In October, CMS released a final rule on the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Ad- vanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs), which were created under MACRA and will base 2019 payment adjustments on reporting beginning January 1, 2017. Because nearly all ophthalmologists will participate in the MIPS program, ASCRS focused its efforts on advocating for im- provements to the program and was successful in achieving nearly all of our recommended changes from the proposed rule. Key legislative and regulatory accomplish- ments in 2016 to reduce regulatory burden and preserve access to specialty care O ver the past year, ASCRS and its Government Relations Committee have seen considerable achievements as a result of our advocacy efforts. As leaders in the Alliance of Specialty Medi- cine and the broader medical and surgical communities, ASCRS seeks to alleviate the regulatory burden on physicians and maintain pa- tient access to high-quality surgical and specialty care. Among our key accomplishments in 2016 were, foremost, securing major changes to the implementation of Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). We have embarked on an ambitious schedule of train- ing and assistance to help members succeed under the new program. In addition, we successfully fought Advocating for you and your practice

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