Remember when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was taking comments on proposed changes to Medicare’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) for next year?
No? TMA wrote about it in Action back in August. We even tried to persuade you to send comments of your own to CMS.
Well, whether you submitted comments to CMS or not, guess who did? That’s right. T-M-A.
But we didn’t write just any ol’ letter. We wrote a 29-page behemoth praising the administration for its commitment to deregulation and outlining our concerns about the proposed changes and our recommendations for how to improve the QPP. In case you’re getting lost in the alphabet soup, QPP began this year as part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
The comment period closed Aug. 21, which was the date on the letter we sent to CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
“We appreciate the efforts made by the CMS to continue some transitional relief for physicians, but we continue to be concerned that the compliance, documentation, and reporting requirements required by law and regulation for this program are costly and wasteful with no proven evidence of benefit,” TMA’s letter says. “The requirements and incentives may even have the counterproductive effect of reducing access to good ambulatory care for many Medicare beneficiaries.”
In addition to general program concerns with the QPP, the letter also touches on TMA’s multiple concerns about changes to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and alternative payment models.
But we didn’t stop there. TMA staff also worked with the Physicians Advocacy Institute and DC-based health care consulting firm Healthsperien on an additional comment letter on the proposed changes.
More information and resources can be found on TMA MACRA Resource Center. It’s just one of the ways TMA will continue to keep you apprised of what we’re doing in the Medicare quality arena and to update you with the latest information to help you succeed in the QPP.
Last Updated On
August 23, 2023
Originally Published On
September 18, 2017