What Healthcare Providers Participate in MIPS?
Any clinician who bills for Medicare Part B stands to benefit from participating in either MIPS or in an Alternative Payment Model (APM). Both of these programs are defined by the Medicare Access CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
If you bill Medicare and you don’t participate in one of these programs, you will be reimbursed at a lower rate on Part B claims. Failure to report quality data is also reported on publicly available websites where consumers can compare healthcare providers.
You can choose to participate in MIPS as an individual or as part of a group. An individual is defined as a single National Provider Identifier (NPI) tied to a single Tax Identification Number (TIN). A group – for example, multiple providers reporting as a single practice – is defined as two or more NPIs sharing a TIN.
Whether you choose to participate as an individual or as a group, your choice applies across all four categories. You can’t, for example, opt to report improvement activities as an individual but interoperability as a group.
Are There Exceptions to MIPS?
Not every clinician is required to participate in MIPS. Here are some exceptions:
- Providers who billed less than $90,000 in the reporting year
- Providers who cared for fewer than 200 Medicare patients in the reporting year
- Providers who provide fewer than 200 covered services
- Providers participating in an APM
- Providers who qualify for special status
- Providers affected by an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance, such as a natural disaster
- Providers who claim a hardship that impacts their ability to use an EHR, such as rural clinicians with poor internet connectivity
- Providers who provide 75% or more of their services in hospitals and emergency rooms are exempt from reporting on the promoting interoperability category — they must still report on quality and improvement activities
Look up your practice to see if you are required to participate.
MIPS FAQs
- What happens if you don’t report MIPS data?
If you bill Medicare Part B, you will be docked up to 9% on your payment adjustment. Your failure to report this quality data will also be recorded on physician comparison websites used by consumers when researching providers. - What’s a good MIPS score?
A neutral score is 75 on a 100-point scale. Clinicians who score 75 see no change to their reimbursement. Any score above 75 can result in a positive payment adjustment up to 9% (depending on other factors assessed by CMS). Scoring below 75 can result in a penalty of up to 9%. - Does MIPS improve patient outcomes?
It’s not clear. While that was its intention, recent studies have shown an inconsistent relationship between provider MIPS scores and patient outcomes. - What are the benefits of MIPS?
MIPS rewards providers for proactively taking on initiatives to provide better care. Ideally, these initiatives translate to better outcomes for patients. - What are the challenges of MIPS?
It can be difficult to apply MIPS data to actually improving your practice because of the long delay between serving Medicare patients and receiving data from CMS. - What are MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs)?
Introduced in 2023, MIPS Value Pathways are an alternative to traditional MIPS reporting. Clinicians using MVPs report on fewer quality measures and improvement activities, streamlining the reporting process. - What are APM Performance Pathways?
APM Performance Pathways are an alternative to MIPS Value Pathways. They allow clinicians participating in an alternative payment model (APM) rather than MIPS to use a similar streamlined process.
Not Participating in MIPS Is Leaving Money on the Table
MIPS was established in 2017, but even after all this time, there are still clinicians who don’t participate.
Before, those clinicians were missing out on increased Medicare reimbursements, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Now, the stakes are higher. Not only will nonreporting providers not get extra Medicare money, they stand to lose thousands of dollars to penalties.
We’ve helped specialty medical providers like dermatologists and ophthalmologists collect more than $61 million in MIPS incentives. Better yet, a Nextech EHR can automate most of the reporting for you, taking the hassle out of the process.
Maximize your reimbursements and schedule a consultation today to learn all the ways Nextech can help your practice thrive.
About the Author
Heather Miller has more than 25 years of leadership experience in healthcare operational management, providing comprehensive medical consultation to hundreds of practices. Her expertise includes oversight of revenue cycle management, Medicaid and Medicare compliance, and workflow analysis to increase practice productivity. She has a proven track record in supporting clients in the adoption of electronic health records and providing strategy plans for annual MIPS reporting.
Heather holds a master’s degree in business administration from Rollins College - Crummer School of Business and a second master’s degree in Early Childhood Special from the University of Miami. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee in Special Education.