AQI approved to offer COVID-19 Improvement Activity
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved the Anesthesia Quality Institute to offer a new high-weighted improvement activity to 2020 Quality Payment Program reporting that promotes participation in COVID-19 clinical trials and reporting COVID-19 related care data through its qualified registry and qualified clinical data registry.
Eligible clinicians or their groups may now earn Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) credit by attesting to the new COVID-19 Clinical Trials improvement activity. To receive credit for this activity, MIPS eligible clinicians must participate in a COVID-19 clinical trial using a drug to treat a patient with a COVID-19 infection and report their findings through a clinical data repository or clinical data registry for the duration of their study.
Register for 2020 NACOR reporting
Quality reporting practices can now begin the enrollment process for the Anesthesia Quality Institute's (AQI) 2020 NACOR Quality Reporting by completing the new online order form. NACOR is a designated QR and QCDR for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Quality Payment Program.
AQI's NACOR quality reporting options include the following offerings in 2020 to ensure that NACOR remains the leader in anesthesiology: Quality Concierge, NACOR Quality Reporting, NACOR Benchmarking and NACOR Basic.
2020 MIPS eligibility
Practices can check provider eligibility for 2020 MIPS quality reporting on the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website by using the QPP lookup tool. The QPP updates eligibility data at multiple times throughout the year to help practices plan program participation. Updates are based on past and current Medicare Part B Claims and PECOS data. There are two determination periods for 2020 reporting. Initial eligibility was determined in December 2019 and final eligibility will be determined in November 2020.
Read past issues of
AQI's NACOR News.
Question: Which NACOR reporting option(s) include national benchmarks?
NACOR Benchmarking, NACOR Quality Reporting and Quality Concierge all include national benchmarks. NACOR Basic is benchmarking at the local level only.
Question: Where do we apply for a HARP account?
HARP accounts can be obtained through the CMS enterprise portal. Visit the New User Application, then select PQRS: Physician Quality Reporting System when asked to choose your application. HARP accounts are required to review your practice's final MIPS scores.
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 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.