Why MACRA matters for your practice

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) eliminated the notorious sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula last year, but what will the new MACRA payment policies mean for your practice? Three experts offered answers to this question and detailed what physicians can do now to shape these changes themselves.     Harold D. Miller speaks to physicians at the 2016 AMA National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. Payment changes coming under MACRA “While we are thrilled that Congress finally did away with SGR, it is very important that we take a closer look at what was adopted in its place,” said Barbara L. McAneny, MD, immediate past-chair of the AMA Board of Trustees and an oncologist in New Mexico. MACRA creates a new framework that was designed to offer physicians a choice between a modified approach to fee-for-service and transitioning to alternative payment models (APM), and physicians can offer their insights on these choices as they are being developed. Those who choose to stay with the fee-for-service model will see their payments increased or decreased under the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). “MIPS is going to adjust the fee-for-service payments based on a number of factors including, clinical practice improvement, quality, judicious use of resources and use of electronic [health] records (EHR),”Dr. McAneny said. “Performance measures are not new,” said R...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news