Attend Wave 3 Clinical Subcommittee Measure-Specific Workgroup Meetings

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with Acumen, LLC to develop episode-based cost measures for their potential use in the cost performance category of the Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS). As part of Wave 3 of measure development, Acumen, LLC is hosting workgroup meetings in August 2019 that will be open to the public with a listen-only option. Stakeholders and members of the public are invited to listen in on the considerations and discussions that inform cost measure development.

Acumen, LLC will convene the expert workgroups to obtain detailed clinical input on specifications for episode groups that were approved for development. Workgroup members will discuss and provide input on the following episode-based cost measure specifications: i) episode group scope and trigger codes, ii) approaches for ensuring meaningful clinical comparisons such as sub-grouping, risk adjusting, and excluding, iii) episode window length, and iv) categories of services to assign to the episode group.

The times and dates for the workgroup meetings are listed below. To register, please click on the workgroup meeting(s) you are interested in attending:

For information about the measure development process and development activities undertaken in previous years, please see this summary on the MACRA Feedback Page.

If you would like to remain engaged in measure development activities for wave 3 and future waves of measure development, please join our mailing list. If you have any questions about measure development, the Wave 3 Clinical Subcommittees, or the workgroup meetings, please contact Acumen at macra-clinical-committee-support@acumenllc.com. If you have questions about MIPS, the cost performance category or cost measures currently in use in MIPS, please contact the Quality Payment Program Service Center via telephone at 1-866-288-8292 or via email at qpp@cms.hhs.gov.

Medicare Coverage for Treatment Services Furnished by Opioid Treatment Programs

CMS proposed policies to implement Section 2005 of the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act, which established a new Medicare Part B benefit for opioid use disorder treatment services, including medications for medication-assisted treatment, furnished by Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs). Comments on the proposed OTP policies are due via the official comment submission process by September 27.

For More Information:

Proposed Rule see section II.G
OTP webpage

Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule: Understanding 3 Key Topics Listening Session

Monday, August 12 from 1-2:30 pm ET

Proposed changes to the CY 2020 Physician Fee Schedule are aimed at reducing burden, recognizing clinicians for the time they spend taking care of patients, removing unnecessary measures, and making it easier for clinicians to be on the path towards value-based care. During this listening session, CMS experts briefly cover three provisions from the proposed rule and address your clarifying questions to help you formulate your written comments for formal submission:

Increasing value of Evaluation and Management (E/M) payments
Continuing to improve the Quality Payment Program by streamlining the program’s requirement’s in order to reduce clinician burden
Creating the new Opioid Treatment Program benefit in response to the opioid epidemic

We encourage you to review the following materials prior to the call:

Note: feedback received during this listening session is not a substitute for your formal comments on the rule. See the proposed rule for information on submitting these comments by September 27.

Target Audience: Medicare Part B fee-for-service clinicians; office managers and administrators; state and national associations that represent healthcare providers; and other stakeholders.