Modernizing Medicine, Inc. and its affiliated companies responded today to the announcement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of a new, more flexible roll out plan for providers reporting under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The specialty-specific health information technology company reaffirms that its products and services have been developed from the beginning to save physicians time and reduce their administrative burden, and the company is ready for the transition to quality of care reporting and outcome-based reimbursement.
The CMS’ new proposal will allow physicians to pick their pace of participation. Physicians will now have several options to comply with MACRA, each of which requires a varying degree of quality of care reporting to achieve a positive adjustment or avoid a negative payment adjustment.
“Modernizing Medicine and its affiliated companies including gMed remain committed to our mission to transform the way healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized to increase efficiency and improve outcomes, and this includes providing easy, touch-based data entry for MACRA, MIPS, PQRS or any other mandate in our specialty-specific EHR system,” said Modernizing Medicine’s CEO and co-founder Daniel Cane in statement issued in response to the CMS announcement.
Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Michael Sherling, M.D., M.B.A., cautioned that while picking the pace of participation does provide some relief, particularly for practices that rely heavily on Medicare, all options still require some degree of quality reporting.
“The evolution of MACRA and the repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate are important pieces of a much bigger transformation in the healthcare industry,” said Sherling. “Capturing structured data at the point of care enables physicians to use this information in multiple ways, whether to track patient outcomes longitudinally or submit data for the Quality Payment Program. We will continue to support our customers as the industry transitions to an outcomes-based reimbursement model, but this new flexible approach is good news for many medical providers who now have more time to change to a system that will help them avoid receiving a negative payment adjustment in 2019.”
Sherling recommends that providers use this cushion to more thoroughly vet the readiness of their technology vendors, determine the system’s clinical and operational analytics capabilities and ensure that the shift to quality reporting will be smooth and successful. “With physician burnout rates trending upward and the need for new and added reporting moving forward, it’s essential for physicians to have tools that empower them to get paid for the work they do without adding additional documentation burden. Doctors should ask their vendor partners directly to explain, and very clearly demonstrate, how their solutions support quality of care reporting.”
For more details on Modernizing Medicine and how its specialty specific suite of solutions can help to support physicians, please visit www.modmed.com.