CMS launches Medical Review Reduction program to ease reporting burden for doctors
Pilot program will relieve physicians in specified alternative payment models from select tasks, CMS says.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has created program to reduce reporting for Advanced Payment model participants as part of a broader initiative to boost engagement among clinicians, the agency announced Thursday.
The 18 month pilot program aims to reduce medical review for physicians who participate in specified APMs, the agency said, saying they will be relieved of some scrutiny under medical review programs.
Advanced APMs were singled out for the pilot program since participating clinicians share financial risk with Medicare.
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"Two-sided risk models provide powerful motivation to deliver care in the most efficient manner possible, greatly reducing the risk of improper billing of services. After the results of the pilot are analyzed, CMS will consider expansion along various dimensions including additional Advanced APMs, specialties, and provider types," CMS said in a statement.
The program is part of a broader initiative to improve the clinician experience with Medicare and boost engagement among clinicians, who are already fatigued by changing and burdensome regulations and reporting, and are also now facing down the pending implementation of MACRA.
The initiative will look at regulations and policies and find ways to minimize administrative tasks. It will also be seeking input on how to improve clinician satisfaction. The initiative will be led by senior physicians within CMS who will report to the Office of the Administrator.
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Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt is appointing Shantanu Agrawal, MD, to lead the development and implementation of the initiative, including documentation requirements and existing physician interactions with CMS, as well as other aspects of provider experiences.
In order to ensure that physicians have a dominant voice, each of the ten CMS regional offices will oversee local meetings to take input from physician practices over the next six months, as well as regular meetings thereafter. Those meetings will then inform a report with specific recommendations to the CMS administrator in 2017.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
