Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Importance
The US Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a major Medicare value-based payment program aimed at improving quality and reducing costs. Little is known about how physicians' performance varies by social risk of their patients.Objective
To determine the relationship between patient social risk and physicians' scores in the first year of MIPS.Design, setting, and participants
Cross-sectional study of physicians participating in MIPS in 2017.Exposures
Physicians in the highest quintile of proportion of dually eligible patients served; physicians in the 3 middle quintiles; and physicians in the lowest quintile.Main outcomes and measures
The primary outcome was the 2017 composite MIPS score (range, 0-100; higher scores indicate better performance). Payment rates were adjusted -4% to 4% based on scores.Results
The final sample included 284?544 physicians (76.1% men, 60.1% with ?20 years in practice, 11.9% in rural location, 26.8% hospital-based, and 24.6% in primary care). The mean composite MIPS score was 73.3. Physicians in the highest risk quintile cared for 52.0% of dually eligible patients; those in the 3 middle risk quintiles, 21.8%; and those in the lowest risk quintile, 6.6%. After adjusting for medical complexity, the mean MIPS score for physicians in the highest risk quintile (64.7) was lower relative to scores for physicians in the middle 3 (75.4) and lowest (75.9) risk quintiles (difference for highest vs middle 3, -10.7 [95% CI, -11.0 to -10.4]; highest vs lowest, -11.2 [95% CI, -11.6 to -10.8]; P?Conclusions and relevanceIn this cross-sectional analysis of physicians who participated in the first year of the Medicare MIPS program, physicians with the highest proportion of patients dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid had significantly lower MIPS scores compared with other physicians. Further research is needed to understand the reasons underlying the differences in physician MIPS scores by levels of patient social risk.
SUBMITTER: Khullar D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7489811 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Khullar Dhruv D Schpero William L WL Bond Amelia M AM Qian Yuting Y Casalino Lawrence P LP
JAMA 20200901 10
<h4>Importance</h4>The US Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is a major Medicare value-based payment program aimed at improving quality and reducing costs. Little is known about how physicians' performance varies by social risk of their patients.<h4>Objective</h4>To determine the relationship between patient social risk and physicians' scores in the first year of MIPS.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>Cross-sectional study of physicians participating in MIPS in 2017.<h4>Exposure ...[more]