FEDERAL | ASPS Asks Price to Improve Quality of Care
Late last month, ASPS joined the Alliance of Specialty Medicine and the American Medical Association in sending a letter to Tom Price, MD, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, seeking his help to entice physicians to participate in the Merit Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Specifically, the organizations requested that the Secretary allow eligible clinicians to receive full credit for one of the four components of the MIPS program if they participate in a qualified clinical data registry utilizing a certified electronic health record to share and report data.
The requested change would reduce reporting burdens, improve MIPS scores and increase EHR use. It would also further sharpen the Advancing Care Information MIPS category's focus on interoperability and place less emphasis on the underlying tasks inherent in the previous Meaningful Use measures, which have little to no evidence of improving quality and outcomes.
Although a proposed rule for Year 2 of MIPS was released shortly after this letter was submitted, ASPS will continue to advocate for the changes included in the response to the rule, as well as in all future conversations with Secretary Price and Congress.