NACOR Dashboard unlocked
The NACOR dashboard was unlocked on April 8. Practices may now edit their practice and provider lists. AQI recommends that practices review and update their provider lists prior to AQI's data warehouse transition July 1. Providers who have retired or left your practice prior to January 1, 2019 should have their status set to "removed" on the provider list. Setting providers to "remove" will not impact historical data.
The following reports were updated for 2019:
- NACOR Basic Reports
- Data Completeness Reports
The 2019 MIPS, QCDR and Internal Improvement measures will not be available for review in the dashboard until the transition July 1. Practices can review the practice level data completeness report to confirm billing and measure/quality codes have been submitted for 2019.
Email AskAQI@asahq.org with questions.
2019 changes to reporting deadlines
Effective in 2019 AQI will have two deadlines for MIPS reporting: January 31, 2020 and February 14, 2020. The following tasks will be due January 31:
- Submission of January-November 2019 data
- Improvement Activity attestation
- Electronic consent forms for practices reporting as individuals
- TIN/NPI reconciliation of the provider lists
Data for December 2019 and any corrected files must be submitted by February 14, 2020. 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.
Register for 2019 NACOR reporting
Quality reporting practices can now begin the enrollment process for 2019 NACOR Quality Reporting by completing the new online order form.
AQI's NACOR quality reporting options include the following new offerings in 2019 to ensure that NACOR remains the leader in anesthesia - Quality Concierge, NACOR Quality Reporting and NACOR Benchmarking. NACOR Basic does not include quality reporting.
To better address individual and practice needs, AQI will add enhanced dashboards for better analysis, opportunities to view benchmarked data, and the chance for eligible physicians to earn MOCA Part IV credit for reviewing data for AQI Measure 59: Multimodal.
These new products and services will result in a change in the NACOR pricing structure for 2019. ASA members and NACOR participants will see a fee adjustment in 2019 for NACOR Benchmarking and NACOR Quality Reporting. NACOR Basic remains a complimentary member benefit and pricing for NACOR Quality Concierge is unchanged in 2019.
2019 Internal Improvement Measures released
AQI recently released Internal Improvement Measures for reporting to the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR). The collection of 22 measures is intended for internal improvement purposes only and are optional for practices to report.
Reporting these measures may aid a practice in benchmarking their performance, demonstrating their value and quality care to payers and facility administrations, or as part of practice and quality improvement initiatives. CMS has not recognized and will not accept these measures as part of an anesthesiologist's or practice's participation in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), or as part of an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM). AQI will not send data gathered on these measures to CMS.
2019 NACOR fees (PDF)
2019 QCDR Measure Specifications (PDF)
Register for 2018 NACOR quality reporting
2018 NACOR pricing
2018 NACOR Data Definitions
2018 QCDR Measure Booklet
2018 Recommended Improvement Activities
Read past issues of
AQI's NACOR News.
Question: If a provider has left the practice half way through the year - does the practice need to report the provider's cases?
If the practice is reporting as a group and the provider performed cases in 2018, the practice needs to be reporting 60% of all eligible cases for that provider regardless if they are still at the practice or not as CMS is evaluating the data at the TIN level not the individual NPI. If the practice is individually reporting, the data will follow the provider's NPI.
Question: In regards to the reporting year on the AQI website it state to submit 60% of eligible cases and we understand it is not pick your pace but does this mean 60% of 2018 cases? Can you elaborate?
The 2018 MIPS reporting requirement is to report on 60% of the denominator eligible cases for 6 measures including 1 outcome measure for the 12 month reporting period (1/1/2018 - 12/31/18). For example, If your practice is reporting MIPS 76 - Prevention of Central Venous Catheter (CVC - Related Bloodstream Infections and places 75 central lines during 2018 your practice would need to report on 45 cases which is 60% of the eligible cases.
Question: Is it possible for all providers in a practice to be non-MIPS eligible and not required to submit data as individuals, but are eligible as a group?
Yes if the individual providers do not meet the 2018 MIPS participation criteria (billed $90,000 or less in Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services furnished to Medicare Part B Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries (including Railroad Retirement Board and Medicare secondary Payer) and have 200 or fewer Medicare Part B FFS beneficiaries) the practice can be MIPS eligible as a group if the group has billed $90,000 or more in PFS services furnished to Medicare Part B beneficiaries and have 200 or more Medicare Part B beneficiaries.