In a 54-page letter, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) urged the government to make changes to simplify the proposed new Medicare payment system for physicians.
The payment system currently proposed to implement the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) won’t create the value-based system that Congress intended, the MGMA said in the letter sent Friday to Andrew M. Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The group, which represents healthcare organizations that include 385,000 physicians, called for changes in the proposed rule that creates the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Model (APM) on which physicians will be paid by Medicare.
“Unfortunately, the MIPS/APM proposed rule strays significantly from Congress’ intent to simplify quality reporting and provide new value-based opportunities for physicians in Medicare. The rule’s proposed MIPS scoring system is nothing short of a mathematical marvel. Its narrow definition of APM provides almost no opportunities for medical groups to begin the shift away from fee-for-service reimbursement,” said Halee Fischer-Wright, M.D., the MGMA’s president and CEO, in a statement.
CMS has been seeking comments on the proposed rule to implement MACRA. Fisher-Wright said the MGMA hopes CMS will listen and come up with a simplified system that will offer more choices for physicians and support their ability to provide high quality patient care.
In the letter, the MGMA said in a recent webinar about the proposed MIPS program, 65 percent of the nearly 500 participants said the proposed rule would detract from the goal of improving their ability to deliver high-quality care. The letter said MIPS criteria are “so onerous” that physicians will spend time and resources collecting and reporting government-mandated data rather than spending time with patients.
Among its numerous recommendations, the group urged CMS to reduce the reporting requirements for MIPS and to delay the first performance period to January 1, 2018, to give practices more time to get ready for the new payment system.
- read the letter