Diana M. Cardona, Stephen Black-Schaffer, Fay Shamanski, and Jonathan L. Myles (2017) Medicare's New Quality Payment Program Has Started—Are You Ready?. Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine In-Press.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5858/arpa.2017-0047-ED

Early Online Release

Medicare's New Quality Payment Program Has Started—Are You Ready?

Diana M. Cardona, MD; Stephen Black-Schaffer, MD; Fay Shamanski, PhD; Jonathan L. Myles, MD

"Additional information regarding the QPP can be found at https://qpp.cms.gov/ (accessed January 14, 2017). The history of such programs suggests that the MIPS requirements within each performance category will become more complex and demanding in future years. The thresholds have intentionally been set low at the start of the program to ease EC transition into the program and to minimize disruption to the delivery of health care. As ECs become more familiar with the program, reporting requirements will likely increase. Another potential threat to pathology is the retirement of our high-performing measures by the CMS. As a whole, pathology has done well within the PQRS program. The quality gaps initially seen at the time of creation of the measure have diminished, and therefore the need for those measures from the perspective of the CMS is less pronounced. However, CAP is striving to maintain these measures because they ensure that the quality of care that best serves Medicare beneficiaries will be promoted within the pathology community. However, additional measures need to be created to facilitate all pathologists’ compliance with the MIPS program. The creation of a pathology-specific QCDR with a broader menu of measures is one potential way to help the pathology community succeed within MIPS. The College of American Pathologists is currently in the process of introducing such a registry to the medical community."