CMS Announces 2019 MIPS Relief

CMS recently announced relief for clinicians and facilities participating in Medicare quality reporting programs in response to COVID-19. For the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), CMS extended the 2019 data submission deadline from March 31 to April 30, 2020. CMS will also apply its automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy to MIPS eligible clinicians who participated in MIPS in 2019 as individuals and submitted less than two categories of performance data. These clinicians will automatically qualify for a neutral MIPS adjustment in 2021 and do not need to take any additional action. For those who already submitted some 2019 MIPS data at the group level, or submitted two or more categories of data at the individual level, CMS is extending the opportunity to apply for an Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Exception.

Eligible clinicians will have until April 30, 2020, to request an exception for all four MIPS performance categories due to COVID-19. If approved, CMS will re-weight all four categories, and the clinician or group will receive a neutral payment adjustment for the 2021 payment year. CMS has not yet announced flexibilities regarding the 2020 MIPS performance year, but has indicated that it is considering options and that an announcement will be made soon.

Additional information about 2019 MIPS flexibilities is available here.