We just completed the comment period for CMS’s Merit Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and alternative payment models (APMs), which are components of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) passed by Congress in 2015. For many, that may sound like a bucket of red tape ready to entangle any practice that gets in its way. Well, if you think just the names of those programs fill your head with static, try reading the documents! Actually, you should read them.

There is a lot in the program guidelines that oncology practices MUST familiarize themselves with. To not do that is going to leave you flat-footed and behind the curve when this incredibly important legislation becomes more established. It is essential to prepare now for this scale of change, even if delays in implementation are likely.

A recently completed survey of the Community Oncology Alliance Administrators’ Network showed that practices generally have littleto- no understanding of MIPS. Less than half (46%) of oncology practice administrators report that they have started to prepare for MIPS. About one-third (30%) report that they are awaiting the final rule, 17% view it as yet another major change, and 7% are paralyzed with fright.

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