UPDATED APRIL 9, 2020: CMS announced on April 3, 2020, that they are also reopening the MIPS extreme and uncontrollable circumstances application for individuals and groups who started, but are unable to complete, their data submission and for virtual groups that are unable to start or complete their data submission. This article has been updated to reflect those changes.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced earlier this week that the deadline for physicians and other eligible providers to submit data for the 2019 MIPS reporting period has been extended. Providers now have until April 30, 2020, rather than March 31, to submit MIPS data.
As well, providers who are unable to get data submitted in time for the April 30 deadline will automatically receive an extreme and uncontrollable circumstances exception, which will give them a neutral payment adjustment for the 2021 MIPS payment year.
CMS later announced on April 3, 2020, that they are also reopening the MIPS extreme and uncontrollable circumstances application for individuals and groups who started, but are unable to complete, their data submission; and for virtual groups that are unable to start or complete their data submission. An application submitted between April 3 and April 30, 2020, citing COVID-19, will override any previous data submission.
While a neutral adjustment would allow providers to avoid payment losses for not successfully participating in the MIPS program, it could still mean providers lose money on the program if they’ve paid Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDR) or Qualified Registries (QR) to submit the data for them and the data isn’t submitted by the April deadline.
Since most QCDRs and QRs require physicians to submit data to them well before the CMS deadline, however, the registries will presumably still be able to submit data within the new deadline. Individuals and groups using third parties to submit their MIPS data should check to be sure the new submission deadlines will be met in light of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on throughout the country.
CMS also provided some relief for 2020 submissions for hospital and post acute care quality programs like the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program, the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, and the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program. For programs like these, no data for services provided January 1, 2020, through June 30, 2020, will be used in CMS’s calculations for quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs.
“This is being done to reduce the data collection and reporting burden on providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” CMS said in a prepared statement.
The agency is evaluating options for providing relief around participation and data submission for eligible MIPS providers for 2020.
For more information about CMS relief for MIPS reporting requirements, review the following resources:
- CMS Press Release: CMS Announces Relief for Clinicians, Providers, Hospitals and Facilities Participating in Quality Reporting Programs in Response to COVID-19
- Quality Payment Program COVID-19 Response Fact Sheet [AUTOMATIC DOWNLOAD]
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