On January 2, 2018 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new data submission system for eligible providers who participate in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program also known as MACRA (Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015).

The system is designed to accept measures for the 2017 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) track. The plan is to provide eligible providers with one portal where they can submit all data through one platform. Currently this portal may be found in the qpp.cms.gov website.

Data for the 2017 year may be submitted between January 2, 2018 to March 31, 2018. Both CMS and the Taino Consultants team recommend users to log-in early to familiarize themselves with the peculiarities of the system.

In a release from CMS the added the following information:

How to Login to the Quality Payment Program Data Submission System

To login and submit data, clinicians will use their Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM)credentials.

• The EIDM account provides CMS customers with a single user identification they can use to access many CMS systems.
• The system will connect each user with their practice Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). Once connected, clinicians will be able to report data for the practice as a group, or for individual clinicians within the practice.
• To learn about how to create an EIDM account, see this user guide.

Real-Time Scoring

As data is entered, clinicians will see real-time initial scoring within the MIPS performance categories. Data is automatically saved and clinician records are updated in real time. This means a clinician can begin a submission, leave without completing it, and then finish it at a later time without losing the information.

Payment Adjustment Calculations

Payment adjustments will be calculated based on the last submission or submission update that occurs before the submission period closes on March 31, 2018.

Determining Eligibility

There are two eligibility look-up tools available to confirm a clinician’s status in the Quality Payment Program. Clinicians who may be included in MIPS should check their National Provider Identifier (NPI) in the MIPS Participation Status Tool, which will be updated with the most recent eligibility data, to confirm whether they are required to submit data under MIPS for 2017. For clinicians who know they are in an MIPS APM or Advanced APM, CMS is working to improve the Qualifying APM Participant (QP) Look-up Tool to include eligibility information for Advanced APM and MIPS APM participants. We anticipate sharing this updated tool in January 2018.

For More Information

To learn more about the Quality Payment Program data submission system, please review this fact sheet or view any of the following training videos:

1. Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Data Submission
2. Advancing Care Information (ACI) Data Submission for Alternative Payment Models (APMs)
3. Data Submission via a Qualified Clinical Data Registry and Qualified Registry

Visit qpp.cms.gov to explore measures and activities and to review guidance on MIPS, APMs, what to report, and more.  

Go to the Quality Payment Program Resource Library on CMS.gov to review Quality Payment Program resources.

We (Taino Consultants Inc.) will be discussing Medicare’s Quality Payment Program at the Compliance and Healthcare Innovation Conference taking place Feb 1-3, 2018. We will also be posting additional information in our website.