The Alliance of Specialty Medicine, a group representing more than 100,000 specialty physicians from 13 specialty and subspecialty societies, urged CMS to stay on course with the Merit-based Incentive Payment System in a letter to Francis Crosson, MD, chairman of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
The group argues that although specialty physicians face challenges with the MIPS program, the proposed change to Advanced Alternative Payment Models — which would replace MIPS with a Voluntary Value Program and require participation in A-APMs to avoid financial penalties — would be even more difficult.
According to the societies, not every specialist has an opportunity under the A-APM track of the CMS' Quality Payment Program. The groups feel that fee-for-service remains a viable reimbursement option for specialists where alternative payment models have already addressed the value of their services.
"The MIPS program provides the only mechanism for many specialists and subspecialists to engage in federally-sponsored quality improvement activities and demonstrate to beneficiaries their commitment to delivering high-value care," the societies write. "Eliminating MIPS in favor of MedPAC's proposed new quality program would discourage specialty physicians from developing robust quality and outcomes measures, including the establishment of high-value clinical data registries, and would thwart efforts to collect and report performance data."
Click here to view the full letter.
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