NACOR approved as QR and QCDR for 2021 MIPS reporting

AQI's National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) was recently approved as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR), as well as a Qualified Registry (QR), by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This is the sixth year that NACOR has been approved as a QCDR by CMS, which allows physician anesthesiologists, qualified anesthesia providers and other clinicians to report on quality measures that reflect their practices.

AQI posts 2021 QCDR measure specifications

CMS has approved AQI's QCDR measures for 2021. The 2021 QCDR Measure Specifications book includes:

• A list of measures CMS removed
• A list of changes to measure specifications from 2020 to 2021
• A list of MIPS (QID) measures that are supported by AQI

If you have any questions, please email qra@asahq.org.

CMS MIPS Measures

CMS released the 2021 CMS MIPS Measure specifications. The specifications can be found on the Quality Payment Program website (qpp.cms.gov) in the Resource Library.

Improvement Activity Component Audits to Begin

To remain in good standing as a Qualified Registry and Qualified Clinical Data Registry, AQI and its registry, NACOR, is required to submit an annual data validation plan to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To help ensure continued compliance with CMS data validation standards, AQI is auditing the Quality and Improvement Activity components for randomly selected practices.

Practices who are selected for the Improvement Activity Component audits will receive a certified letter and email with instructions on how to complete the audit.  For more information, email askaqi@asahq.org.

First MIPS Reporting Deadline January 29

The first 2020 MIPS reporting deadline is January 29, 2021. The following items are due to NACOR on this date:

• Data from January through November 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.
• Attesting to 2020 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.

Review your NACOR dashboard

Remember to review your 2020 quality reports in the NACOR dashboard. For practices that have uploaded new data files, AQI encourages a member of the practice to review the NACOR dashboard, as it allows practices to monitor providers' performance, as well as pinpoint any problems with the data and make necessary corrections prior to the final data submission deadline, February 15, 2021. For more information, email AskAQI@asahq.org.