AQI - Anesthesia Quality Institute

ADVANCE 2023 - NACOR User Group Meeting January 27

NACOR participants who are attending ADVANCE 2023 are invited to a NACOR User Group Meeting January 27 from 6:45-7:45 a.m. in Celebration Rooms 9 and 10.

Please RSVP here.

First Quality Reporting deadline January 31

The first 2022 Quality Reporting deadline is January 31, 2023. The following items are due to NACOR on this date:

Data from January through November 2022. Practices are encouraged to upload data files prior to the deadline to allow time for review, and to submit corrected files if any errors are identified.
Attesting to 2022 Improvement Activities (including date ranges that the activities were performed).
Reconciliation of provider lists ensuring all NPIs are assigned the proper provider type (MD-Anesthesia, CRNA, DO, AA, SRNA, Resident, etc.).
Provider consents for clinicians reporting as individuals.

Email askaqi@asahq.org with any questions.

Improvement Activity Attestations due January 31

Clinicians can start attesting to 2022 Improvement Activities in the NACOR Dashboard if the practice is reporting as a group. A step-by-step tutorial on attesting to an IA in the NACOR dashboard is available here. For practices with multiple Tax ID Numbers (TIN), make sure the correct TIN is listed in the drop-down menu before attesting to the activity.

As participants of NACOR, practices can attest to activity IA_PSPA_1: Participation in an AHRQ-listed patient safety organization. This is a medium-weighted activity worth ten points.

To earn full credit for the Improvement Activity Component, you must earn 40 points. Medium-weighted IAs are worth ten points and high-weighted activities are worth twenty points. If the practice or clinician qualifies for a special status, these points may be doubled.

For more information, email askaqi@asahq.org.

Review your NACOR dashboard

Practices that have recently uploaded new data files should review the NACOR dashboard as it allows you to monitor your providers' performance, as well as pinpoint any problems with the data and make necessary corrections prior to data submission deadlines.

Data completeness requirements for the 2022 MIPS Performance Period are:

Submit 12 months of data (January – December 2022).
Report a minimum of six measures with at least one outcome or high priority measure.
Measure must meet the 20-case minimum to be scored.
Reporting rate must be at least 70% of all eligible cases across all payers for each measure reported.

Note: The minimum point threshold to avoid a negative payment adjustment has increased from 60 to 75 points for the 2022 performance year. It is important to check the measure performance rates for your practice to make sure the measures reported will earn the maximum points allowed for the Quality Component.

As a reminder, section 8 of the Addendum for Quality Reporting to the NACOR Participation Agreement states that your practice "and each EC agree, and Participant shall require each EC, to review his/her measure results in AQI at least four times a year and provide timely feedback to AQI on the measures that will be reported on the EC's behalf."

If there are questions about the dashboard results, submit a ticket to nacorsupport@asahq.org.

Individual Provider Consents due January 31

AQI's NACOR is collecting consent forms from each Eligible Clinician (EC) who is enrolled in 2022 individual quality reporting, as required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). All providers must sign the consent form by January 31, 2023. AQI will only submit data to CMS for individual quality reporting for providers who have signed consent forms. Consents do not apply to those practices reporting as a group.

Scan and email consents (Exhibit A to the Addendum for Quality Reporting) to askaqi@asahq.org. For practices who have already returned their consents there is no further action required.

For questions about consents, email askaqi@asahq.org.

2022 Quality Payment Program Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception

Practices that have been approved by CMS for an Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception for Covid-19 or a natural disaster (e.g., wildfires or hurricanes) and are registered to submit Quality Data to CMS through NACOR must notify AQI before March 3rd.

If you have not done so already, notify AQI of your practice's exemption status, submit a ticket by emailing nacorsupport@asahq.org.

If AQI does not receive notification through a support ticket, AQI will follow customary procedures for sending your practice's data to CMS. If CMS receives data from a group or individual that has a hardship exemption, CMS will score the data submitted.

To see if your practice has been approved for an Exception, check the Quality Payment Program Website using the QPP Participation Status Tool.

NACOR dashboard lock down January 31 at 11:59 p.m. CST

AQI will lock the provider list tool and the Improvement Activity (IA) screen in the NACOR dashboard at 11:59 p.m. CST on January 31. Clinicians will be unable to make any changes to the provider list or attest to IAs at this time. This will have no impact on viewing data. The provider list and IA screen will be unlocked on Friday, April 7, 2023.