The Merit Based Incentive System is now part of the Healthcare landscape. Each year it experiences changes, additions, deletions and tweaks. This article will discuss one of the ‘Tweaks’ that you need to be aware of that happens every year. That tweak is the publishing of updated benchmark files.
Information on Benchmarks can be found at the QPP site at https://qpp.cms.gov/benchmarks
When you visit this page, you will find benchmark files for the upcoming year 2025 as well as benchmark files from previous years. The benchmark file tells you how many points you will earn on a specific quality measure based upon your performance on the measure.
How do Benchmarks work?
When we were students, many times our grade in a course was based upon ‘THE CURVE” we got a grade above class average we got a good grade and if we scored below class average, we got a bad grade. MIPS quality scoring works in a very similar manner.
Here is one an example. Assume that your performance on a measure is 95%. On the surface that would seem like a good grade. But that is now always the case. If you were to have a performance on Measure 126 – Neurologic Evaluation of the diabetic foot what would a performance of 95% mean?
If you download the 2025 benchmark file you will see that you would get approximately 4 points out of a possible 10. This is because in the past a vast majority of those reported scored a perfect 100%.
Now look at Measure REGCLR3 the Bunion Pain measure at Registry Clearinghouse. If your performance on this measure was 25% you would expect a poor score, but when you look at the benchmark file you will see that a performance of 25% will get you approximately 7 out of 10 possible points.
Very often when selecting measures, we look at what might be the easiest measure to have a high-performance percentage. That is only looking at one if the aspects of the measures we would want to report on. When selecting measures, you need to look at measures that you can incorporate into your practice where you can score well enough to earn a high number of points. These are the points that are utilized by calculating your final MIPS composite score.
Another wrinkle in the measure selection process is to look at the measures that are supported by your EHR system. These are the measures that your software has built in tools to track your performance. Not every EHR has tools for every measure. Does your software have tools that enable you to track your performance on the measures that are best for your practice?
This is where having a MIPS expert to speak with can assist you in selecting the measures that will get you the best possible score with the least amount of burden for your practice. This is just one of the services that Registry Clearinghouse can provide to you. To learn more about which measures are best for your practice reach out to us today by email at
info@registryclearinghouse.com
https://www.registryclearinghouse.com
Michael L. Brody DPM
CEO Registry Clearinghouse.
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