ASA Collecting Measure Concepts for 2022-2023 Measure Development
The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) invites members and the public to submit measure concepts for consideration in the development of quality measures for the 2022 and 2023 years.
Quality measure development is essential for practices to measure local quality improvement activities and the success of physician anesthesiologists in federal pay-for-performance programs, including the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Measure concepts should focus on the most important patient outcomes and aspects of anesthesia care with the most room for improvement. For a concept to be successfully developed into a quality measure, it should be able to differentiate high quality care from low-quality care and be supported by evidence. Measure concepts submitted in the past have allowed thousands of anesthesiologists to collect, report and analyze data that reflects their practice needs via the AQI NACOR.
The ASA Committee on Performance and Outcomes Measurement will review all submitted measure concepts and determine which measure concepts should be developed into full measures.
The call for concepts is open from February 9 – February 28, 2022.
For more information or questions, please contact the ASA Quality and Regulatory Affairs department at qra@asahq.org
2021 Quality Payment Program Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception
Practices that have elected to take the Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception from CMS and are registered to submit Quality Data to CMS through NACOR must notify AQI no later than Friday, February 25, 2022.
To notify AQI of your practice's exemption status, submit a ticket by emailing nacorsupport@asahq.org. If you have already notified AQI via askaqi@asahq.org or a help desk ticket no further action is needed.
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.
Quality data processing on hold
Any data files submitted to the FTP for processing after the February 15, 2022, deadline will not be included in NACOR's 2021 CMS data submission. Data processing is on hold, while AQI reviews data integrity and auditing per CMS regulations for a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) and Qualified Registry (QR).
FTP processing will resume in early April. If you submit a file to the FTP during this interim period, the file will be processed as usual when the hold is lifted. If there is an issue with your practice's data, submit a help desk ticket by emailing nacorsupport@asahq.org.
Check your initial 2022 MIPS eligibility on the QPP website
Use the updated Quality Payment Program Participation Status Tool to check eligible clinician’s (EC) initial 2022 eligibility for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Just enter the National Provider Identifier (NPI) to find out whether the clinician is required to participate in MIPS during the 2022 performance year.
To be eligible to participate in MIPS in 2022, you must:
- Bill more than $90,000 a year in allowed charges for covered professional services under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS); AND
- Furnish covered professional services to more than two hundred Medicare Part B beneficiaries; AND
- Provide more than two hundred covered professional services under the PFS.
If a clinician does not exceed all three of the above criteria for the 2022 performance year, the clinician is excluded from MIPS. However, there is an opportunity to opt-in to MIPS and receive a payment adjustment if you meet or exceed one or two, but not all, of the low-volume threshold criteria.
Alternatively, you may choose to voluntarily report to MIPS and not receive a payment adjustment if you do not meet any of the low-volume threshold criteria or if you meet some, but not all, of the criteria.
For more information, please visit the Quality Payment Program website.
Register for 2022 NACOR reporting
Quality reporting practices can now begin the enrollment process for the Anesthesia Quality Institute's (AQI) 2022 NACOR Quality Reporting by completing the 2022 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 2022 to ensure that NACOR remains the leader in anesthesiology: Quality Concierge, NACOR Quality Reporting, NACOR Benchmarking and NACOR Basic.
For more information, please email askaqi@asahq.org.