MIPS Penalties Include Medicare Part B Drugs – MACRA Monday

This post is part of the MACRA Monday series of blog posts where we dive into the details of the MACRA Quality Payment Program (QPP) and related topics.

I’m sure most regular readers can tell that we’re pretty worn out and tired of MACRA, MIPS, and related government regulation. No doubt you’ll see us posting fewer MACRA Mondays going forward, but we’ll still try to cover major MACRA events as they occur. We just won’t be publishing MACRA Monday every Monday like we’ve been doing.

Jim Tate recently posted about the Real MIPS Timeline which included:

  • Phase 1 – Denial
  • Phase 2 – Shock/Anger
  • Phase 3 – Acceptance

You should read his full writeup, but he’s right. There’s a lot of denial that’s going to lead to shock and anger until the majority of healthcare have to finally accept that MIPS and MACA aren’t going anywhere.

Jim Tate also wrote another important piece related to the MIPS penalties and Medicare Part B drugs. You can read the full details of the change, but for those too lazy to click over, here’s the summary:

  • Many organizations argued that Medicare Part B Drug Costs Shouldn’t be Included in the MIPS Penalties (I mean…payment adjustments)
  • The MACRA Final rule still includes Medicare Part B drug costs (for the majority of people) in the MIPS reimbursement and eligibility calculations

If you’re a practice with a high volume of part B drugs, you better start figuring out your MIPS strategy now! Otherwise, that payment adjustment is going to hit pretty hard.

Thanks Jim for the great insights into MACRA and MIPS. If you need help with MIPS, be sure to check out Jim’s company MIPS Consulting.

   

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