CMS Receives Hundreds of Comments to include CME in MACRA

With the nearly 4,000 comments now in for the proposed MACRA rule, we are taking a look at what organizations had to say about including Continuing Medical Education (CME) as a Clinical Practice Improvement Activity (CPIA) under the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Across the board, medical organizations and physicians were extremely supportive of including CME as a CPIA and strongly encouraged CMS to include CME-related language in the final rule. For example, an article by MeetingsNet highlights the hundreds of comments submitted describing the value of CME. As suggested by the CME Coalition's comments, CMS should "explicitly recognize qualifying CME as a clinical practice improvement activity within MIPS because CME has long been recognized as an effective means by which physicians demonstrate engagement in continued professional development." MACRA As we reported when the MACRA rule was released earlier this year, starting in 2017 (with payments in 2019 being impacted), the proposal outlines the four components of MIPS. MIPS is based on a 100 point score with clinical practice improvement activities (CPIA) representing 15 percent of the score. This is an area where CME should play an important role in helping CMS achieve its quality measure objectives. The proposed rule leaves great discretion to the Secretary of HHS to define what will be included in these activities. As stated in the rule's preamble: "Clinical Practice Improvement Activity (CPIA) me...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs