CMS delays MIPS value pathways to 2022

The anticipated launch of the MIPS value pathways (MVPs) framework by the CMS in 2021 has been delayed by a year due to the acknowledgment of the challenging situations within the healthcare sector as a result of Covid-19. While the MVPs framework had been finalized and ready for release, CMS acknowledged the concerns of the stakeholders regarding the timeline and decided to postpone its implementation to 2022. The organization also recognizes the fact that clinicians are very busy at the moment to address Covid-19.

CMS has proposed some new frameworks to be added to the guiding principles and creation of the MVP development criteria to help the stakeholder collaboration in the establishment of MVPs with the CMS. CMS is also proposing changes to the process of receiving and evaluating MVP candidates as of the 2022 performance period, including the utilization of a standardized template.  

What are MIPS Value Pathways?

MIPS Value Pathways refers to subsets of activities and measures developed through rulemaking to be used to satisfy the MIPS reporting requirements. The role of MVPs is to connect and align activities and metrics across the cost, quality, and improvement activities performance MIPS categories for various conditions or specialties. MVPs are an essential element that helps the patients make informed healthcare decisions. Overall, the MVPs will promote a reduction in costs for patients and better health outcomes. Using the MVPs framework, CMS will enhance feedback and data to you as a clinician. The framework shall be utilized in analyzing existing information concerning Medicare to offer clinicians and patients information that enhances health outcomes. The primary aim of the MVPS is to help simplify MIPS, develop a more integrated and meaningful participation experience, and reduced clinician burden.

CMS has proposed several changes to ensure that the MIPS is further simplified for the clinicians. CMS proposes that MVPs ought to include limited, complementary, and connected sets of activities and measures to ensure that are meaningful and simplified for the clinicians. It also proposes that the MVPs should enhance comparative data performance to allow subgroup reporting which reflects the services offered by the multispecialty groups. MVPs ought to include the selected measures using a meaningful measures approach and the patient voice must be integrated where possible to promote performance improvements in priority areas. Lastly, CMS proposes that MVPs must support the transition to quality measures in digital platforms.

How MVPs make MIPS Easier

MVPs is a significant shift in the manner that the clinicians can potentially take part in MIPS. The guiding principles of creating MVPs help in the implementation of MIPS. CMS proposes that MVPs ought to comprise limited measures and activity sets, that are meaningful to clinicians and assist them to reduce the burden related to choosing specific measures and activities, as well as simplify scoring. This principle ensures that the clinicians can report all the activities and measures using an MVP. Besides, it reduces the burden of selecting measures or activities from a wide list of options.

The MVPs comprise activities and measures that improve comparative performance data, which is critical to clinicians and patients in evaluating performance and making choices concerning their care. This ensures that there is an effective and simple means to tie the cost-efficient care and quality to promote the health outcomes and care processes. Besides, MVPs simplifies MIPS by integrating measures that would encourage performance improvements in priority areas. MVPs also decreases the barrier to APM participation by integrating measures that are part of the APMs where appropriate to link quality and cost measurements. All these principles are critical in the simplification of the MIPS.

The MVPs are an improvement to the MIPS program to ensure that there are clarity and swift implementation. It addresses several issues such as the overall confusion with the MIPS performance requirements. It ensures that the MIPS performance is aligned to make it easy for you as a clinician to use it. It also improves the performance comparability across clinicians. MVPs include the patient experience to promote simplicity and decrease burden as well as increase the MIPS performance data’s value.

The MVPs shifts the focus of MIPS from flexibility towards standardization. According to the feedback from the stakeholders to the CMS, the MIPS focus on flexibility as it is currently is the main reason for negative feedback. While CMS emphasized flexibility during the MIPS’ initial years, it has acknowledged the need to balance flexibility with standardization to hold clinicians accountable for care quality, identify, and reward high quality and value care. Besides, it limits the burden on clinicians.

Proposed Changes to the Process of Submitting a MVP Candidate

CMS works towards implementing a swift and efficient process associated with MIPS performance. Starting from the 2022 MIPS performance period, CMS has proposed a process for stakeholders to use and follow when submitting an MVP candidate for review. This includes;

• CMS shall hold an MVP development webinar that will review MVP development, processes, timelines, and criteria to be used to submit a candidate.
• Stakeholders will be required to formally submit their MVP candidates utilizing a standard template
• The MVP candidates shall be reviewed and evaluated as they are received against the prescribed criteria.
• CMS will vet the quality, cost, and QCDR measures from technical viewpoints to validate the inclusion of clinician types needed to be measured.
• After the identification of a candidate, a meeting shall be scheduled with stakeholder collaborators to review and discuss the feedback as well as the next steps.
• CMS shall not communicate the approval, disapproval, or consideration of a candidate for a future year before the proposed rule is published.

Overall, CMS intends to offer enhanced clinician driven data analysis and feedback in the proposed MVPs. It aims to focus on patient-reported measures comprising patient satisfaction and experience measures as well as clinical outcome measures. It seeks to necessitate reporting relevant to given multiple specialty types in a group. Moreover, it wants to offer meaningful information to specific clinicians at a given level. All these will ensure that MIPS is simplified, and priority is given to the important aspects of health care.