Final MACRA Rule Includes Real Improvements - 04/19/2018
Maybe the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) isn’t a cold, faceless bureaucracy after all. In the wake of this summer’s withering criticism of the agency’s draft rule to implement Medicare’s new quality payment programs, CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt pledged that he and his staff would listen to physicians’ real concerns about the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). CMS published the final rule on Oct. 14, and, at first blush, the 2,398-page document appears to include some significant improvements for physicians and patients. TMA suggested many of those improvements in the 50 recommendations we submitted to CMS in our formal comment letter on the draft rule.