Dive Brief:
- Fewer than one in four physicians feel they are prepared to meet requirements under the CMS’ Quality Payment Program (QPP), a new American Medical Association and KPMG survey shows.
- The organizations canvassed 1,000 doctors involved in QPP-related practice decision-making. Of those, only 8% said they were “deeply knowledgeable” about MACRA and QPP, while 51% said they were “somewhat knowledgeable” and 41% did not consider themselves knowledgeable.
- In a separate survey by Nuance Communications, 60% of hospital leaders who were confident they understood QPP requirements underestimated or did not know what they financial impact might be.
Dive Insight:
The findings add to the litany of surveys that suggest clinicians may not be completely prepared for QPP, the program that implements MACRA.
For example, a survey from last October from Medscape found 20% of physicians hadn't heard of or don't know much about MACRA while a March survey from Healthcare Informatics found nearly 75% of providers are not ready for MACRA.
It's not all doom and gloom, however. The AMA-KPMG survey also found seven in 10 physicians have started preparing for QPP requirements in 2017. Still. of physicians planning to participate in the Merit-Based Incentive Payments System in 2017, 90% feel MIPS requirements are slightly (37%) or very (53%) burdensome.
Two-thirds of physicians expressed concern about the time needed to report, and 28% said that was their biggest challenge and many (83%) said their practices could use more education on MIPS and the final impact of QPP.
That education could be beneficial as the Nuance survey suggests providers don’t grasp how QPP could impact their bottom line. For instance, more than 75% of respondents who were confident about QPP requirements did not know that eligible providers who opt not to participate in 2017 risk a 4% cut in Medicare payments.
In addition, just 35% of finance leaders with felt confident about QPP knew that the program requires 90 days of quality data to be submitted.
CMS has been sensitive to providers’ concerns about readiness for QPP and the reporting burden and included some new options like virtual groups in its 2018 QPP proposed rule. In addition, the agency allowed for more exemptions from the program via raising the low patient volume threshold to $90,000. After all exemptions, CMS expects only 36% of clinicians will be eligible for MIPS, but that percentage makes up 58% of Medicare Part B charges.