Merit-Based Incentive Payment System Reporting

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a program under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and is designed to promote reporting of quality information by eligible professionals.

The MIPS program consists of four categories—Quality, Cost, Improvement Activities, and Promoting Interoperability. These are weighted as follows for 2019, with the resulting MIPS value-based payment adjustments (incentives or penalties) based on the final 100-point score.

Quality: 45%
Cost: 15%
Improvement Activities: 15%
Promoting Interoperability: 25%

The STS National Database has been designated a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for MIPS reporting in 2019. A QCDR is a CMS-approved entity that collects clinical data on behalf of clinicians for data submission. The data submitted to CMS via a QCDR cover quality measures across multiple payers and are not limited to Medicare beneficiaries or measures within MIPS.

Adult cardiac and general thoracic surgeons who participate in the STS National Database can satisfy the Quality category by signing a 2019 MIPS Data Sharing Consent Form. Surgeons will have the opportunity to attest to satisfying the Promoting Interoperability and Improvement Activities categories via a CMS attestation portal.

This service is free for STS members. Non-members will be assessed a $500 fee for the Society to transmit data on their behalf. To avoid this fee, surgeons have the opportunity to become STS members. All surgeons must be approved as members before October 31, 2019, to avoid the fee.

Complete the 2019 MIPS Data Sharing Consent Form by October 31, 2019, to participate. A new consent form must be submitted every year. The 2019 consent form will be available soon.