Your MIPS 2017 Quick-Start Checklist

You still have time to avoid the 4% penalty and even earn a small incentive for 2017 MIPS participation. Here’s how to get started:

Download this checklist as a poster

1. Check Your Eligibility

Only select physicians and roles can participate this year. Find out if you're eligible. Then make sure your take action on the rest of the items on this checklist to get on the road to earning positive incentives and avoiding penalties.

2. Decide on Individual or Group Reporting  

If you registered as a group for PQRS in 2016, CMS automatically registered your group for MIPS 2017. You can check your participation status on the CMS website and find out more details about both reporting paths. 

3. Pick Your Pace  

As of Summer 2017, you have two options left: submit a partial year to earn a small incentive and avoid the penalty; or submit a minimum amount of data to avoid the penalty. Here are more details about participation levels and time lines.

4. Select Your Reporting Period    

For partial year, submit any consecutive 90 days--last day to start is October 2, 2017. For a minimum submission, report any data from 2017.

5. Select Your Reporting Measures from Your Certified EHR

There are three reporting categories: Quality Measures (60%); Advancing Care Information Measures (25%); Improvement Activities Measures (15%). There is a fourth category—Cost—which CMS has decided not to include in 2017.

6. Conduct a Security Risk Analysis                                                     

To participate in MIPS and to comply with HIPAA requirements, conduct a risk analysis to ensure the security of patient data. 

7. Modify Your Workflow 

Your certified EHR should provide you the tools and features to easily incorporate data collection into your workflow, without having to jump over to a different application.

8. Monitor Your Progress

Regularly check the dashboards in your certified EHR to monitor your level of completion. You should be able to see your overall performance rate, the patients that meet the selected measure as well as the patients that don't. For the patients not meeting the measure, you should have easy access to find out why and reevaluate a patient encounter.

9. Create Your Audit Folder

This will be the information you keep in support of your 2017 MIPS attestation, including reports, your security risk analysis, policies, enrollment forms and screenshots if needed. You'll want to create your folder before you attest. I recommend keeping an electronic and printed version of your audit folder.

10. Mark Your Calendar

Send your performance data by March 31, 2018. You can go to the Quality Payment Program website (qpp.cms.gov), scroll down and subscribe to receive the latest updates directly from CMS. 

And for more guidance, check out my webinar, Are You On Track For MIPS Success? I'll walk you through the most important aspects of reporting strong in 2017 and answer critical questions.