House Holds Hearing on Merit-based Incentive Payment System for Clinicians

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today held a hearing on the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, part of the Quality Payment Program for clinicians mandated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. Testifying at the hearing were representatives from the American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, America’s Physician Groups, and American Medical Group Association. In a statement shared with the committee, AHA continued to urge that MIPS “be implemented in a way that measures providers accurately and fairly; minimizes unnecessary data collection and reporting burden; focuses on high-priority quality issues; and fosters collaboration across the silos of the health care delivery system.” The association commended the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for progress in addressing many of those priorities, including a MIPS facility-based measurement option, and said future policy changes “should be informed by data, experience and input from the field.”