Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act: What do Geriatrics Healthcare Professionals Need to Know About the Quality Payment Program?

Commencing in 2017, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 will change how Medicare pays health professionals. By enacting MACRA, Congress brought an end to the (un)sustainable growth rate formula while also setting forth a vision for how to transform the U.S. healthcare system so that clinicians deliver higher-quality care with smarter spending by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In October 2016, CMS released the first of what stakeholders anticipate will be a number of (annual) rules related to implementation of MACRA. CMS received extensive input from stakeholders including the American Geriatrics Society. Under the Quality Payment Program, CMS streamlined multiple Medicare value-based payment programs into a new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). CMS also outlined how it will provide incentives for participation in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (called APMs). Although Medicare payments to geriatrics health professionals will not be based on the new MIPS formula until 2019, those payments will be based upon performance during a 90-day period in 2017. This article defines geriatrics health professionals as clinicians who care for a predominantly older adult population and who are eligible to bill under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Given the current paucity of eligible APMs, this article will focus on MIPS while providing a brief overview of APMs.