MACRA

New Unscored MIPS Measure Can Help You Refine Your EHR Use - 11/07/2024

Even though it won’t affect your score for 2022, a new piece of this year’s Merit-Based Incentive-Payment System (MIPS) might be worth undertaking just the same – because it can help practices make sure they’re using their electronic health record (EHR) systems safely.

MACRA: Fix or Folly? - 06/18/2024

The Texas Medical Association has made recommendations to improve the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' proposed rule to implement the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), which results in numerous compliance and administrative hassles.

Fix Medicare Now: 2024 Fee Schedule Solidifies Cut, Heightens Calls for Reform - 03/05/2024

This latest cut stems from the 2024 Medicare physician fee schedule and Congressional inaction, both of which further erode physician payment, practice viability, and patient access to care.

TMA to Feds: Some Proposed QPP Changes “Costly and Wasteful” - 08/23/2023

TMA letter praises the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for its commitment to deregulation and outlining TMA's concerns about the proposed changes and recommendations for how to improve the QPP.

Medicare Gets It Wrong, Re-Calculates MIPS Scores and Changes 2019 Payment Adjustments - 08/21/2023

All Texas physicians should recheck their 2017 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or Alternative Payment Model (APM) information to ensure the correct MIPS payment adjustment (bonus or penalty) was applied for 2019 Medicare payments.

Congress Conducts MACRA Check-Up - 07/25/2023

Federal lawmakers seem to be listening to calls for reform for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), as the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee recently hosted a “MACRA Checkup” hearing to examine the law’s “successes and remaining challenges.”

Make a Penalty-Free Shift From Meaningful Use to MIPS - 07/25/2023

I’m confused about the overlap of dates between the meaningful use incentive program and the Advancing Care Information reporting requirements under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Is there extra work for physicians who participate in both?

Will Health Quality Improve Under New Medicare? - 06/28/2023

Medicare is revolutionizing how physicians are evaluated and paid to provide care, and patients will see changes as a result, focusing in their care quality. As Texas doctors adapt to the new Medicare payment system, many are concerned about the changes, while others are optimistic the transition will result in healthier patients. The switch to the new Quality Payment Program under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) means physicians who care for Medicare patients must change how they run their practice – and care for their patients.

Congress Asks, TMA Delivers: 50 More Ways to Fix Medicare - 05/02/2023

TMA leaders presented lawmakers with 50 ways to increase physicians’ Medicare pay; reduce paperwork and hassles; measure “quality” with metrics that are meaningful to physicians and their patients; and push health information technology vendors to shoulder their fair share of the administrative burden.

CMS Reweights MIPS Cost Category to Zero Due to the Pandemic - 05/04/2022

As a result of the ongoing public health emergency, physicians will find some much-needed, if temporary, relief from burdensome reporting requirements under Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System.

Victory! Congress Finally Repeals Flawed Medicare SGR Formula - 05/02/2022

Statement of TMA President Austin I. King, MD, on the U.S. Senate vote to approve HR 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which finally repealed the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. 

MIPS Participation Drops per Preliminary Report - 04/05/2022

Fewer clinicians participated in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program in 2020, and fewer participants earned incentive payments compared with 2019, according to preliminary data recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

MIPS 2021 Data Submission Now Open - 04/05/2022

Participants in the 2021 performance year of the Quality Payment Program’s (QPP’s) Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) can now submit their data through the QPP website. You can submit and update your MIPS data until 7 pm CT on March 31.

MIPS Deadlines Approaching for 2021 Data Submission, COVID Exception - 03/28/2022

Clinicians who participated in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in 2021 have until this Thursday, March 31, at 7 pm CT to submit and update their data for that performance year. That's also the deadline for MIPS-participating groups, virtual groups, and alternative payment model entities to apply for an extreme and uncontrollable circumstances exception for 2021 because of COVID-19.

Medicare Maintains Quality Reporting Resources for Small Practices - 03/16/2022

Despite the recent expiration of an initiative to help small, rural, and underserved practices navigate Medicare’s Quality Payment Program, the agency is still offering help to those practices through several avenues, including a new monthly newsletter geared toward small practices.

Medicare Extends MIPS Relief for Groups - 03/02/2022

Because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, Medicare has reopened applications from certain groups for its hardship exception under Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive System (MIPS) extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy.

Alphabet Soup: A MACRA Glossary and Acronym Guide - 08/19/2021

MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015,  introduced a slew of new acronyms and terms for physicians to understand. Here's our glossary.

Submit 2020 Data Now to Avoid Medicare Pay Cut - 03/23/2021

If you participated in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the deadline to submit all data through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) portal has been extended one day to April 1. The deadline had been March 31.

CMS Increases Advanced APM Thresholds for 2021 - 11/13/2020

If you participated in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) this year as a Qualifying Alternative Payment Model Participant (QP), you’ll need to keep an eye on your status for 2021.

AMA House Punts on Texas Plan to Fix QPP - 11/20/2019

A decision on whether the American Medical Association (AMA) will join the Texas Medical Association’s call for major changes to Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) will have to wait a few more months, the AMA House of Delegates decided at its annual meeting in Chicago last week. The QPP overhaul was just one of 11 resolutions the Texas delegation to the AMA took to the five-day meeting. Most of the other 10 received a very warm welcome.

File Your MIPS Targeted Review Request by Sept. 30 - 09/18/2019

Physicians have two weeks to file a targeted review request to appeal errors in their 2018 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance feedback and 2020 Medicare payment adjustment under the Quality Payment Program (QPP).

Yes, You Do Have to Comply With a MIPS Audit Request - 08/14/2019

TMA finally received clarification from CMS: If you receive an Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) audit request for the 2017 and/or 2018 performance years, compliance is indeed mandatory, and there are possible punishments for noncompliance.

TMA to Congress: Undo Payment Freeze, Help Physicians With MACRA - 06/25/2019

Physicians participating in the Quality Payment Program’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and alternative payment models need help from Congress to succeed, and lawmakers need to undo an upcoming freeze on Medicare payments. That’s what the American Medical Association, the Texas Medical Association, and dozens of other medical societies told House of Representatives and Senate leaders in both parties in a letter sent last week.

Be On the Lookout for MIPS Audit Request - 06/25/2019

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has contracted with Guidehouse, a nationwide consulting firm, to audit physicians who participate in the Merit-Based Incentive Program, which is under the Quality Payment Program. If you submitted MIPS data for 2017 and/or 2018, you could receive a request for information via email or certified letter from Guidehouse.

National Specialty Societies With MACRA Information - 03/27/2019

To help you get the best information possible, TMA has identified direct links to MACRA news, resource centers, education, and advocacy from national specialty societies. Visit your specialty society online for information specific to your specialty, setting, and practice.