The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting year began Jan. 1, 2017. In order for doctors to avoid penalties for failure to report, they must take steps before December 31.
Doctors who do not report in 2017 will be assessed a 4% penalty on their Medicare reimbursements in 2019. However, this can be avoided but reporting ANY data this year. You can avoid the penalty by reporting just one Clinical Practice Improvement Activity or one Quality Measure for one patient you see before December 31, 2017. For more information, visit the AOA website. Besides the AOA, CMS and your practice management software vendor are other good resources.
The AOA reports 81 percent of doctors of optometry are currently receiving a 2 percent payment penalty for failure to meet CMS Physician Quality Reporting System program requirements in 2015. Doctors who fail to report under MIPS will continue to see their payment reductions increase to a max of 9% or their reimbursements in 2022 based upon their 2020 MIPS performance. As an external billing company, OBS has little to do with your this side of your practice since it involves internal reporting of patient care. However, we do see the reductions taken from your Medicare payments if you are not currently participating and would encourage you to take steps to avoid future penalties. Besides the AOA, CMS and your practice management software vendor are good resources for additional information.
