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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?

Help Patients Make Wise Choices About Treatment Options - 07/20/2023

Tools are emerging to help physicians overcome the time constraints that can preempt discussions with patients.

Quality Improvement: Practice Awards and Free Webinars - 07/20/2023

TMA, the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association (TOMA), and the TMF Health Quality Institute are collaborating again to provide the Physician Practice Quality Improvement Award program. The award formally recognizes physician practices for their dedication and commitment to providing high-quality patient care and improving outcomes.

Driving the Quality Train: TMA Physicians Lead the Way, From Measures to Standardization - 07/10/2023

In a proactive effort to resolve physician complaints, TMA and its members are deeply involved in quality issues, from participating in the development of new measures to pushing payers for standardized quality programs and supporting physicians who are curious about value-based care.

Texas Physicians Push to Improve Health Care for LGBTQ Patients - 06/28/2023

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients face unique barriers that put them at greater risk for mental and physical health problems. Often, their health disparities result from a lack of family support, public prejudice, and fear of the health care system. Texas physicians have launched a new workgroup and are adapting their practices to treat this underserved population.

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.

TMF Offers Resources to Navigate CMS Requirements - 05/16/2023

TMF has launched three physician-focused networks designed to save time, improve patient care, and reduce costs associated with meeting these requirements. These programs, focused on immunizations, behavioral health and value-based improvements, are designed to help physicians benefit from—and not be penalized by—these mandates.

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.

Biden Administration to Launch Specialty Payment Model - 07/27/2022

A new, voluntary Medicare payment model option focused on cancer care opens the value-based care door wider for specialists at a time when such models have been limited.

New Unscored MIPS Measure Can Help You Refine Your EHR Use - 07/13/2022

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.

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.

MACRA: Fix or Folly? - 05/02/2022

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.

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.

The Customer Is Always Right? Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Have Fans and Detractors - 01/26/2021

For too long, some doctors say measures of a physician’s quality of care have been about process: the average length of a patient stay, for example, or a patient’s readmission rate. The bottom line is results, and that’s why a shift to patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures is necessary. However, even proponents of PRO measures note that collecting the information from patients for those metrics places burdens on physicians, and some remain skeptical of bonuses and penalties tied to a measure that derives from a subjective factor: what patients think.