2018 may be over, but there are still opportunities to report 2018 MIPS performance data for activities that took place during the performance year.

If you’re new to MIPS (or just want a refresher!), please refer to the article here for an overview and explanation of how the MIPS program and scoring works. For more details about the score necessary to avoid a payment cut for 2018 performance, see last month’s article here.

Below are reporting mechanisms that are still available to MIPS-eligible clinicians and groups to report activities from 2018 and avoid a payment cut in 2020:

  • Attestation or file upload on the CMS portal at qpp.cms.gov is open until April 2, 2019 at 8pm EDT.
    •  If your EHR can generate a file in the correct format for attestation (most commonly QRDA III) , you can export this file from your EHR and upload it to the QPP portal to report data on the Quality, Promoting Interoperability, and/or Improvement Activities categories.
    •  You can also attest to your performance in the Improvement Activities and Promoting Interoperability categories by manually adding the information through the portal.

 

  •  EHR vendors can submit data on your behalf if you have an EHR and the data was properly collected during 2018. Check with your vendor for deadlines and cost.

 

  • Qualified Registries and Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDRs) can submit data on your behalf through a variety of methods, including EHR interface or manual chart abstraction.
    •  Each registry has different deadlines and data collection options, so you’ll need to check with the registries to find out your options.
    •  The list of all CMS-approved 2018 Qualified Registries is available for download here and QCDRs here.
    •  You can start by asking your EHR vendor or specialty society for registry recommendations.

 

Claims-based quality measure reporting is available through March 2, 2019 ONLY for 2018 dates of service. For most clinicians this option will not be useful, but in the event you still have unbilled claims for 2018 dates of service, you could submit quality measure codes along with those claims before March 2 and they will be counted toward your 2018 MIPS data submission. Keep in mind that quality measure codes MAY NOT be submitted on corrected claims and MUST be submitted with the qualifying denominator code (usually the office visit) in order to count.