Outpatient Facility Coding Alert - 2017 Issue 1
MACRA Update: CMS Eases The MACRA Required Timeline, Makes it Easier to Avoid a Penalty
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Article Overview
This article reviews CMS’s 2017 MACRA final rule and how it reshaped Medicare quality reporting under MIPS, with emphasis on emergency department relevance. It is aimed at clinicians, practice managers, and coding/billing staff who need a plain-language overview of eligibility, exclusions, performance categories, hospital-based considerations, and the general direction of payment adjustments under the new framework.
Why This Topic Matters
The piece matters because it summarizes a major transition in Medicare reporting and payment policy that can affect whether a practice faces an incentive adjustment. It helps readers understand which groups are included or excluded, how the reporting framework is organized, and what kinds of changes were being phased in for 2017 and beyond.
Article Sections
-
Who Can Participate?
This section outlines the general participation requirements under the 2017 framework and identifies the clinician types referenced by the rule.
-
Who is excluded?
This section summarizes the categories of clinicians and practice situations described as excluded from the reporting requirements.
-
Incentive Payments Are Budget Neutral
This section discusses the overall structure of MIPS adjustments, including the budget-neutral design and the general timing of future payment effects.
-
What Does that Mean in Real Terms for an ED Group?
This section provides a high-level example of how the new payment adjustment framework may affect an emergency medicine group.
-
MIPS Categories and Weighting Evolution
This section reviews the major performance categories under MIPS and describes how their weighting changed in the final rule.
-
Hospital Based Providers Get an Exemption
This section addresses the hospital-based provider discussion and the related Medicare reporting exception noted in the article.
-
2017 Cost Category Final Rule Weighting
This section covers the final rule’s discussion of cost-category weighting during the transition period.
What You Will Learn
- How the 2017 MACRA final rule reorganized Medicare reporting programs
- Which clinicians were described as eligible to participate in MIPS
- Which clinicians and practice settings were described as excluded
- How MIPS categories were structured and weighted in the transition period
- What the article says about hospital-based provider considerations
- How the rule related reporting activity to future payment adjustments
Who Should Read This
- Emergency department physicians
- Clinician groups participating in Medicare reporting
- Medical coders and billers
- Practice managers
- Revenue cycle staff
- Healthcare compliance professionals
Codes Discussed
Subscribe or sign in to view the full article.
Quick, Current, Complete - www.findacode.com