Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Act NOW to get a 6.5% raise from Medicare in 2017.

Ok, well it isn't actually a 6.5% raise, but we all get a 0.5% raise, and nearly everyone should be able to avoid the 6% cut, so the "delta" in your payments is 6.5%.

1. Look at this thread and complete the brief form for a hardship exemption for 2015 (which avoids a 2% cut in 2017). The deadline for requesting the exemption is now 7/1/16. I really think that any of us who get this 2% cut have only themselves to blame.

2. Use a registry to send in PQRS data. I just spent a couple of hours at the end of the day today doing this. We used MDinteractive. The cost of the registry is $199, and the savings is avoiding a 4% cut in Medicare payments in 2017. The list of measures on their website is pretty extensive. Keep in mind... you only enter data on 20 patients, of which 11 must be Medicare and the remainder can be with any insurance.
You have to act fast on this one, as the submission deadline is 2/29/15.

Jon - Just saw this in the evening email.

Deadline Extension

Same subject or different?

From the link::
The CMS has extended the deadline for hospitals, physicians and other eligible professionals to file applications for so-called ?hardship? exemptions from the meaningful use requirements of the electronic health records incentive payment program.

The new deadline for hospitals, critical-access hospitals (CAHs), physicians and other eligible professionals (EPs) is now July 1, 2016, a brief statement from the CMS said. The previous deadlines were March 15, 2016 for physicians and other EPs, and April 1, 2016 for hospitals and CAHs.

I hereby nominate Jon for the esteemed position of AC Board Medicare Incentive/Penalty Guru.

To expand on his comments on PQRS, I believe the 2/29/16 deadline he is referring to is for the 2015 PQRS, which affects 2017 Medicare payments. The 2016 PQRS is still underway. In fact, when we tried to report for 2016 (doing 20 patients is easy and quick), the registry was not set up yet to record the data.

I hope Jon is working on renewing the Primary Care Incentive next, which expired at the end of 2015.

Thanks for the info, but it's 3/1 and looks like I missed it. No way to submit for 2015 now? They have never sent me anything on this...

Why do you say to avoid a 4% cut in 2017? It's debatable whether a 2% cut is worth my time.

In 2015, if an individual EP or group practice does not satisfactorily report or satisfactorily participate while submitting data on PQRS quality measures, a 2% negative payment adjustment will apply in 2017.

The adjustment (98% of the fee schedule amount that would otherwise apply to such services) applies to covered professional services furnished by an individual EP or group practice during 2017.

So, Since they shortened the period in 2016 from 1 year to 3 months but did not announce this until after October 1st, can we try for an exemption again this yr?

I hate their silly game