MIPS: Reporting Advancing Care Information for 2017

February 10, 2017

Written by Sarah Leake

You are most likely in a flurry of submitting your attestations for 2016 Meaningful Use on the CMS Site. Since the program has been in existence since 2012, you are most likely familiar with the measure and reporting requirements. For MACRA-MIPS, Meaningful Use is the legacy program for the new Advancing Care Information, (ACI) Category, therefore this option for reporting could be a comfort zone for eligible clinicians and clinician groups. Let’s take a quick look at requirements for the Advancing Care Category.

You may currently be using EHR technology certified to the 2014 Edition, 2015 Edition or combination of the 2014 ad 2015 technologies. The measure set used for ACI reporting depends upon your Certified EHR Technology edition.

In 2017, there are two BASE measure set options for reporting:
• Advancing Care Information Objectives and Measures
• 2017 Advancing Care Information Transition Objectives and Measures

Scoring:
• The ACI score = BASE Score + Performance Score + Bonus points.
• A clinician or group must meet ALL of the BASE measures to earn any points in the ACI category.

“Meeting” this category in 2017 means that you are able to say Yes to security risk analysis and have at least 1 in the numerator for the other BASE measures. If BASE measures are not met you will receive a zero in the overall ACI performance category score.

For the “report something” option from the flexibility rule you must report from one of the three categories of Quality, Advancing Care Information or Improvement Activity. Let’s assume that you choose to report “something” in the ACI category. In order to avoid a negative adjustment in 2017, you will need to report on either the 4 or the 5 BASE measures listed on the table above depending upon the certified version of the EHR you are using.

BASE measure requirements are the same if you are reporting under the 90 day or the Full year option. But these reporting options include the flexibility to focus on reporting on relevant measures, and the opportunity to earn bonus and performance points.

The measures for 2017 Advancing Care Transition are the same as 2016 Meaningful Use, so reporting for 90 days or a year should be an achievable goal for those engaged in MU. If you perform well above the BASE required measures and achieve additional points there is a good opportunity of some positive adjustment to your Medicare Part B payments in 2019.

* Note: If you have been reporting to the Medicaid EHR Incentive program and are a MIPS eligible provider, you may need to report to both the MIPS ACI and Medicaid EHR Incentive programs to continue to receive the Medicaid MU incentive payments.
Here are some links to more detailed information on the ACI category for reporting MIPS in 2017.
Advancing Care Information Section of CMS QPP Site
Advancing Care Information Performance Category Fact Sheet

Leave a reply, ask a question or share information using the “Leave a Reply” section below, or email Sarah Leake directly with your questions or comments.

 

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