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Easing MACRA’s pain points for independent physicians

Published Date
Author Leona Rajaee

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Voluntary reporting for the Quality Payment Program (QPP) under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) begins in January of next year. The new value-based payment system, a shift from the fee-for-service reimbursement plan, comes with some pain points for independent physicians.

Recently, Black Book Research conducted a survey of 8,845 physician practices and identified their top 10 concerns related to MACRA, as reported in Health Leaders Media:

  • Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) compliance technology. Physician practices are seeking technological solutions to help them achieve reporting compliance.
  • Electronic Health Record (EHR) optimization. For the top eight EHR companies, 83% of their physician-practice users reported working to upgrade their system for MIPS compliance.
  • Consultant opportunity. The EHR capabilities required for participation in MIPS or Alternative Payment Models (APMs) represent a business opportunity for EHR consultants.
  • Data wrangling. Taming data to conform with the reporting requirements of MIPS and APMs is daunting for many physician practices.
  • Paying for procrastination. Physician practices that have not developed an in-house strategy for participating in MIPS or an APM are looking for outsourcing options.
  • MACRA-induced physician-practice consolidation. Three-quarters of independent physician practices surveyed are considering selling their practice to a health system, hospital, or large group practice because of the regulatory and capital-cost burdens of MACRA.
  • Economic incentives. For the first five years of the Quality Payment Program, there are powerful economic incentives to beat the MIPS performance threshold.
  • Reputation risk. MACRA will result in performance data being reported publicly through Medicare’s Physician Compare website and other rating systems.
  • ACO appeal. Joining an accountable care organization (ACO) can increase the odds of MIPS success.
  • Cost and quality transparency. MACRA is anticipated to be one of the market factors driving healthcare cost and quality transparency.

Easing these pain points starts with selecting an effective EHR system. MACRA focuses on value-based care that can be more easily managed through the practice management features found in a MIPS-compliant EHR system. Working with a quality technology tool can also help the independent physician become more efficient, managing the operations behind the practice and reducing the burden of administrative tasks.

Elation’s philosophy is focused on bridging the enormous chasm between the world of policy and payers, and the world of the front-line physician. Our technology platform helps ease the pain points involved with MACRA, to enable the independent physician to provide the highest quality patient care while optimizing value-based reimbursements.