Practice Challenges: 2017 to 2018 QPP

While the December holidays move into full swing and 2017 comes to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on some accomplishments this past year, as well as share a sneak peek at what we have in store for you in 2018.

2017 Practice Challenges

2017 brought a number of new – or growing – challenges. Increases in ransomware and other malicious cyber security issues. The new Quality Payment Program. A focus on value-based care and population health management. New budget requirements to implement technology and tools to ultimately protect your data and make you more efficient and profitable. Ongoing monitoring and adjustments to reduce your HIPAA Security Risk. An increase in focus on running your practice like a business. More requirements for data entry. Patient engagement trends. Audits. And these are in addition to the typical practice challenges of reduced reimbursement, increased costs, staffing, monitoring and managing KPIs, securing revenue and staying profitable, etc. You’ve experienced a lot of changes in 2017 and are evolving quickly to meet those challenges.

2017 QPP: What We Learned

For QPP 2017, we learned that some practices set a goal to earn a positive payment adjustment and put plans together to exceed the base requirements. Others focused on doing the basics with the intent of avoiding a negative payment adjustment. Others chose not to try saying that the 4% negative adjustment would balance out all the work they’d have to do. For some, the participation level was a personal choice. For others, their participation fate was decided for them due to lack of time and resources to manage the new program requirements. We found that larger practices with staff dedicated to QPP ownership were able to organize and lead teams to tackle the changes and implement tools, policies, and procedures to make the most of program participation. Yet, despite resource limitations, many smaller practices found success with a single office manager or clinician driving successful participation. We also found that a number of smaller practices struggled.

2018 QPP: Looking Forward

Every year we get to figure out new CMS requirements – just like you do – because the rules change every year. 2018 is no exception. After reviewing the 2018 QPP Final Rule – released November 16th – I’m a little relieved (IMHO) that the changes seem minimal compared to prior years. CMS did a good job of offering “pick your pace” options for 2017 participation and they seem to be dialing back a bit on the speed and number of changes to give providers a chance to catch their breath in 2018. Let’s hope we can ring in the new 2018 QPP reporting year with a little breather where CMS gives everyone a little time to master meeting the requirements that come at such as fast pace. One bit of good news is that clients participating in 2017 QPP will be upgraded to use the 2015 Edition Certified edition of MicroMD EMR for the reporting before the March 31, 2018 deadline. So, going into 2018, Eligible Clinicians will already be in place to earn a 10% MIPS ACI Bonus Score for exclusively using a 2015 CEHRT EMR. As we move into 2018 we’ll also reconvene our QPP Task Force to start planning for new tools to help you navigate the program changes.

2018: Our Focus Continues on Building Trusted Advisor Status

Whether we’re focused on developing software features intended to help you be successful with the ever changing incentive and payment programs or talking with you about the security benefits of Cloud and data backup solutions, our focus is on being one of your trusted advisors. We launched a strategic focus with our staff and clients early last year, titled “accelerate2017”. We’re executing on that strategy in two ways by (1) helping you be more successful in overcoming challenging outcomes and (2) bringing you innovations to boost clinical, financial, and administrative efficiency and profitability. We’ll continue down our strategic path into the new year and re-title it “accelerate2018”.

2018: Client Success & Innovation Sneak Peek

Some things to look forward to in 2018 include the MicroMD User Conference in May, an integrated rules-based Clinical Decision Support engine, an engaging mobile patient population management tool, two major version releases, updates for any new 2018 QPP and other regulatory and payment program changes, and more. 2018 and beyond will bring about the one thing we know is constant in healthcare – change. Trust that we’re here to help you navigate it.

Your MicroMD Team thanks you for your partnership and we wish you and yours happy holidays and a successful new year.