MACRA Responses Hit CMS Shortly, Big Reporting Stress

The public comment period on proposed rules for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, better known as MACRA, closed Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

MACRA, which many called the “doc fix,” replaces the hated Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, among other things. It also creates the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM) programs to consolidate the Physician Quality Reporting System, Meaningful Use and the Medicare value-based payment modifier. (The Meaningful Use framework accounts for 25 percent of the MIPS score, so the electronic health records incentive program isn’t really going away.)