New Event Added to Automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances for MIPS

Important Information Regarding MIPS Eligible Clinicians Affected by Tropical Storm/Hurricane Barry

In response to FEMA’s designation of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Barry, CMS has determined that the automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstance policy will apply to MIPS eligible clinicians in FEMA-identified Louisiana parishes.

MIPS eligible clinicians in these areas will be automatically identified and receive a neutral payment adjustment for the 2021 MIPS payment year. During the data submission period for the 2019 performance period (January 2, 2020 to March 31, 2020), all four performance categories for these clinicians will be weighted at zero percent, resulting in a score equal to the performance threshold.

If automatically identified MIPS eligible clinicians choose to submit data on two or more MIPS performance categories (Quality, Improvement Activities, and/or Promoting Interoperability) as an individual or they are part of a group or virtual group that submits data on behalf of its clinicians, they will be scored on those performance categories and their 2021 payment adjustment will be based on their 2019 MIPS final score.

The automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstance policy will not apply to MIPS eligible clinicians in MIPS Alternative Payment Models (MIPS APMs) in 2019.

Hurricane Dorian

At this time, there are no FEMA-designated disaster areas resulting from Hurricane Dorian, though FEMA updates the information on their website every 24-hours. We will send a separate listserv if it is determined that clinicians impacted by Hurricane Dorian qualify for the automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy.

For more information:

Please reference the Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Overview section on the MIPS > About Exception Applications page. We are also working on additional materials specific to the automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy.

You can also contact the Quality Payment Program Service Center at (866) 288-8292/TTY (877) 715-6222, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. ‒ 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time or by email at qpp@cms.hhs.gov.

Opioids: What’s an “Outlier Prescriber”? Listening Session — September 17

Tuesday, September 17 from 4:30 to 6 pm ET

Are you a physician, nurse practitioner, other advanced practice nurse, or physician assistant who prescribes opioids? CMS wants your input on how best to implement Section 6065 of the SUPPORT Act.

Signed into law in October 2018, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act) outlines national strategies to help address opioid misuse. As part of Section 6065 of the SUPPORT Act, CMS is required to notify opioid prescribers with prescription patterns identified as “outliers” compared to their peers and encourage them to reference established opioid prescribing guidelines.

The purpose of this listening session is to get feedback on the following topics:

Methodology to establish outlier prescriber thresholds
Tone and content of feedback reports to clinicians
How to best identify a “medical specialty” from the National Provider Identifier framework
How to define geographic areas for analysis
Recommendations on opioid prescribing guidelines to include with the notification

You are encouraged to review the following materials before the call:

Target Audience: All prescribing clinicians.