Meet our new Director

Hello, I am thrilled to join the AQI team as the new Director of Operations. I am a physical therapist by background and transitioned into the registries and data science space nearly five years ago. We are committed to ensuring NACOR serves as a clinically relevant and meaningful tool for participants and with this, we are launching new initiatives to get to know you. We want to better understand practice and participant needs to inform the growth and development of products and programs across the AQI portfolio. Through virtual meetings, or connecting at ADVANCE in January 2024, we would like to learn more about your participation experience and how our team can best support your data collection, file submission, quality reporting, and quality improvement initiatives. Interested in connecting and sharing your experience? I encourage you to reach out if you have questions or if we can assist in any way at AskAqi@asahq.org.

I look forward to working with you.

Best,

Diane Ziegenhorn, PT, DPT, MHA

CMS Releases the 2024 PFS QPP Final Rule

On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the 2024 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program (QPP) Final Rule. Here are some of the primary takeaways from the QPP side of the rule:

Performance Categories/Policy:

ASA and AQI successfully advocated that the Merit-based Incentives Payment System (MIPS) 2024 Performance threshold will remain 75 points. Scoring above 75 points will allow an individual or group a payment bonus while scoring below 75 points will result in a payment penalty in 2026.

• ASA and AQI also successfully argued that the data completeness threshold should remain at 75% of all cases to which the measure applies. CMS agreed and extended this through the 2026 performance year.
• There are no changes to the 2024 anesthesia measure set.
• There are no changes to current performance category weights (Quality 30%, Cost 30%, Promoting Interoperability 25% and Improvement Activities 15%) or the criteria for reweighting.

MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs):

• Two QCDR measures and one MIPS measure were finalized in the Patient Safety and Support of Positive Experiences with Anesthesia MVP. ABG44: Low Flow Inhalational General Anesthesia, EPREOP31: Intraoperative Hypotension among Non-Emergent Noncardiac Surgical Cases, and Q487: Screening for Social Drivers of Health were all included in the MVP.
• Anesthesiologists and their groups will also be able to report a new Improvement Activity within the Anesthesia MVP: IA_MVP: Practice-Wide Quality Improvement in MIPS Value Pathways.

Other Policies:

• CMS reduced the targeted review period from 60 days to 30 days following the release of the final scores.

QCDR measure decisions are forthcoming. We will have full details in our December NACOR News. For more information, please see ASA’s Washington Alert on the release of the rule and CMS’ Fact Sheet.

MVP Registration Deadline: November 30, 2023

CMS’ window to register for MVPs is open through November 30, 2023. All NACOR participants planning to report the Positive Experiences with Anesthesia MVP must register ahead of this deadline.

Please see the QPP Access User Guide and the Explore MVPs webpage for more information.

Register for ASA ADVANCE 2024

Meet us in Las Vegas this January to elevate your successful, sustainable practice.

Learn how to develop a more efficient operation, navigate your greatest staffing and culture challenges, and prepare your practice for what's next.

The multifaceted 2024 program makes room for everything from specific coding conundrums and ways to maximize payment to big-picture discussions of purpose and value. There's even a new billing and coding track to keep your revenue cycle team current.

View the 2024 agenda | Learn more | Register Now.

ASA/AQI Offices Closed November 22-26

The AQI offices will be closed from November 22-26 for Thanksgiving. Messages sent to askaqi@asahq.org will receive responses after AQI reopens on November 27.

Stay Tuned for NACOR Survey

ASA and AQI would like to better understand your needs and expectations of quality improvement, specifically in the clinical practice of anesthesiology. As a current user of NACOR, your feedback is important to us and will help us ensure our resources are beneficial, supporting you now and in the future. Please watch your inbox in December for an email from Avenue M Group, LLC, an independent market research firm and our partner for this survey. The email will include a link to the survey which should take about 10 minutes to complete. Your feedback and information will be kept confidential.