Starting in late April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began notifying physicians whether they will be subject to Medicare's new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). MIPS is part of the new Medicare Quality Payment Program established under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

Providers with less than $30,000 in Medicare payments or fewer than 100 Medicare patients are exempt from the MIPS reporting requirements. Physicians who exceed this threshold are subject to MIPS and are encouraged to participate in MIPS for the 2017 transition year to avoid a negative payment adjustment.

Over the next month, physicians will be receiving letters from CMS informing them if they, or the individuals in their group, are exempt from MIPS. The letter also advises physicians to review their information and determine whether they plan to participate as an individual physician or as a group, how to avoid a penalty or possibly earn a positive adjustment, and includes an FAQ with additional information. For clinicians participating under multiple TINs, a separate notification will be sent to reflect each TIN.

If you did not receive a letter, you can confirm your participation status using the CMS MIPS participation lookup tool. 

Physicians can visit the California Medical Association (CMA) MACRA resource center to better understand the payment reforms and access resources to help with the transition. The center is a one-stop-shop with tools, checklists and information from CMA, CMS, the American Medical Association and national specialty society clinical data registries. View the CMA resource center at /macra or visit the CMS Quality Payment Program website for more information.