Participate in Field Testing of Cost Measures through October 31

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its contractor, Acumen, LLC, are conducting field testing for 13 cost measures before consideration of their potential use in the cost performance category of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) of the Quality Payment Program in 2020 or beyond. During field testing, all stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the measures and supplemental documents through October 31, 2018. Participation in field testing is voluntary.

The following measures are being field tested:

Eleven New Episode-Based Cost Measures Currently under Development:

Acute Kidney Injury Requiring New Inpatient Dialysis
Femoral or Inguinal Hernia Repair
Elective Primary Hip Arthroplasty
Hemodialysis Access Creation
Inpatient Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Exacerbation
Lower Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage
Lumbar Spine Fusion for Degenerative Disease, 1-3 Levels
Lumpectomy, Partial Mastectomy, Simple Mastectomy
Non-Emergent Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG)
Psychoses/Related Conditions
Renal or Ureteral Stone Surgical Treatment

Two Cost Measures Undergoing Re-evaluation:

Total Per Capita Cost (TPCC)
Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) clinician

Note: These are not the same measures currently in use for the 2017 and 2018 MIPS performance periods and will not affect any scoring or payment adjustments in MIPS.

Draft measure specifications, mock Field Test Reports, and other supplemental documentation for the 13 measures are now publicly posted on the CMS MACRA Feedback page.

Access Field Test Reports!

During field testing, you/your clinician group can download your Field Test Report(s) via the CMS Enterprise Portal if you meet the minimum number of cases (episodes or beneficiaries) outlined below:

10 episodes for at least one of the 11 episode-based cost measures
35 episodes for the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) clinician measure
20 beneficiaries for the Total Per Capita Cost (TPCC) measure

Field Test Reports contain information about your cost performance. Please refer to the User User Access Guide for guidance on accessing your Field Test Report.

You may provide feedback through this online survey by 11:59 PM ET on October 31, 2018.

Join the upcoming MACRA Cost Measures Field Testing Webinar to learn more about field testing