Yesterday Anne Zieger wrote about AAFP’s proposals to reduce the EHR Administrative Burdens and then we got this tweet from CMS Administrator Seema Verma:
When a provider has to spend more time looking at a screen than engaging with a patient, or spend more time reporting data than actually providing care, then we’re collecting measures at the expense of patients. #PatientsOverPaperwork #CMSQualCon18
— Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) February 12, 2018
That’s some really strong language from the CMS Director.
If you care about this topic, you should go and read all of Seema Verma’s tweets, but here are two more for those who don’t want to read them all:
CMS measures must now meet one of our designated criteria:
-Eliminating disparities
-Tracking to measurable outcomes and impact, not process
-Safeguarding public health
-Achieving cost savings
-And improving access for communities#PatientsOverPaperwork #CMSQualCon18— Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) February 12, 2018
We’ve already achieved some results!
-We removed a number of hospital measures, resulting in an estimated burden reduction of almost half a million provider hours.
-We changed home health quality reporting, saving more than $145 million per year. #PatientsOverPaperwork— Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) February 12, 2018
Change is in the air it seems. Many providers are rejoicing if you look through the replies to Seema Verma’s tweets.
Dr. Ronald Hirsch asked the question that I’m sure many doctors were asking:
So you are cancelling MIPS?
— Ronald Hirsch, MD (@signaturedoc) February 12, 2018
The short answer is no MACRA and MIPS aren’t going away. If my understanding of policy is right, Seema Verma doesn’t have the authority to make MACRA go away. That would take actions from Congress and I don’t know anyone holding their breath on that one. However, Seema can streamline the way MACRA and MIPS are implemented to make it much easier for doctors. That seems to be what’s happening now.
What will this mean for the future of MACRA? I don’t think anyone knows the answers to that question. However, what does seem clear from these tweets is that change is in the air. We’ll have to wait and see what those changes are and who influences the changes they make.
What do you think this means for MACRA and MIPS? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
No, they aren’t cancelling measures as they want their money back from the big time $$ the government shelled out for EMR implementation in the first place. Of course if you follow Eliyahu Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints you’ll know that if you tell me how you measure me, I will tell you how I behave. Is it any real surprise that doctors are more data entry clerks than they are doctors?
Enough of this idiocy then. The resolution is to have the measurers aggregate the data and not have the doctors choose what to report from a list. Then have the insurers put out of the picture, entirely, and go to a DPC model that makes doctors into medical practitioners again. Then weed out the GREED.
Anyone want to brainstorm voice to text models with blockchain engines for EMR?