The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is allowing Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) participants more time to request an exception application to reweigh performance categories impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to automatically applying its extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy to all individual clinicians, CMS said it has now reopened the MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception application to physician groups, virtual groups and alternative payment model (APM) entities.
CMS said it will now be accepting applications that cite COVID-19 as the triggering event until 8:00 p.m. on March 31. Applications are to be submitted using HCQIS Access Roles and Profile (HARP) credentials at qpp.cms.gov.
Groups and virtual groups can submit an application for one or more categories, although any data submitted before or after the application will not be overridden by the exception, according to CMS.
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American Medical Association President Gerald Harmon, M.D., said the organization is “grateful” for the additional flexibility, as many providers were besieged by rising COVID-19 cases in December when the applications were due.
“As a result, physicians might have missed the opportunity to file for a hardship application and faced a payment adjustment,” Harmon said in a statement. “The re-opening of the 2021 application period will give physicians, including APM participants, much-needed relief and better ensure they avoid a negative 2023 MIPS payment adjustment.”
Harmon encouraged physicians, practices and those in an APM entity who are unsure of their status to submit an application so they may avoid a penalty. He also noted that physicians who don’t submit MIPS data in 2021 will automatically avoid a 2023 penalty.
CMS’ extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy was also implemented in 2020 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on physicians’ performance measures. The agency had announced in November that this year’s policy implementation would be automatically applied to individual participating physicians.