Physician anesthesiologists, along with the health care community as a whole, have become increasingly familiar with the federal landscape of quality measurement and performance scoring. Under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), quality measures in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) will contribute to overall performance assessment and impact payment adjustments. As of this writing, our understanding of the implementation of MIPS is based on the proposed rule for MACRA. Release of the final rule is expected to occur in the fall of 2016.
As we await the transition from the current Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) to MIPS, under which payment adjustment will begin in 2019 based on 2017 reporting, anesthesiologists continue to adapt to new reporting requirements. CMS has virtually eliminated claims-based reporting in PQRS for measures reportable by anesthesia services (PQRS 76 on Prevention of Central Venous Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections is still reportable by claims)....
