MACRA Recognizes Our Patient-Centered Connected Care Practices
December 1, 2017 · Amy Maciejowski
There’s more good news for our practices in the 2018 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) final rule.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and Patient-Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP) programs are widely accepted by stakeholders, payers and the government. Now, we can add our Patient-Centered Connected Care program to the list of programs gaining attention and acceptance for their value in organizing care.
The Connected Care program brings urgent care, retail and other stand-alone clinics into the medical neighborhood. It emphasizes clinical integration and communication between sites delivering intermittent or outpatient treatment (like an urgent care clinic) and a patient’s primary care provider.
Now, our Connected Care program is recognized as a “medium” activity category for the Improvement Activities section of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
The “medium” weight provides 25% of the Improvement Activities score (50% if it’s a small, rural or HPSA practice).
This means NCQA-recognized Connected Care practices are a step ahead of the game.
That’s Not All, Folks…
The 2018 final rule awarded auto-credit for Connected Care practices in a second category: Advancing Care Information (ACI). Connected Care practices get an automatic 25% towards their ACI score by getting credits for 3 ACI measures:
- Provide Patient Access
- Patient-Specific Education
- Patient-Generated Data
Practices can earn up to 10 points each toward their total ACI score.
Questions about this new auto-credit? Comment below!
For more information on our Connected Care program, you can visit our site.
Want More on MACRA?
Still confused about MACRA? Check out our MACRA Toolkit at macratoolkit.com.
