Sharon Parsley (sharonparsley@q-a-g.com) is President & Managing Director of Quest Advisory Group, LLC, in Ocala, FL.

March 31, 2018 marks the close of the submission period for Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Quality Payment Program (QPP) data gathered during the 2017 performance period. Beginning on January 1, 2019, the first payment adjustments under QPP will occur. For physicians and eligible clinicians who did not submit 2017 performance data, that will result in a negative 4% payment adjustment.

As we know, MACRA includes two tracks, the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM). CMS continued to refine both MIPS and APM in the calendar year (CY) 2018 final rule, which will affect the QPP 2018 performance period and impact clinician payments during 2020 and beyond. Interestingly, the final rule projections reflect that, of the 1,548,022 clinicians billing for Medicare Part B services, approximately 40% will be MIPS eligible, but only 11% and 15% will participate through an APM.