Small practices likely to be ‘losers’ under MACRA
CMS acknowledges that smaller practices will face penalties of $300 million under MIPS in year one.
In 962 pages of the proposed rule for the implementation of the
Tucked away on page 676 of the proposed rule outlining the details of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), CMS estimates that 87% of the nation’s solo practices (nearly 103,000 physicians) will face a penalty in 2019, the first year of the program, to the tune of $300 million. The news is equally as pessimistic for practices of two to nine physicians (an estimated 124,000 physicians) who could see penalties to the tune of $279 million
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If the rule stands as currently drafted, Ingrid Lund, PhD, practice manager for research and insights at The Advisory Board Company, says MACRA could profoundly change the care delivery landscape.
Ingrid Lund, PhD
“There are winners and losers [in MACRA] and smaller practices are more likely to be the losers,” Lund told Medical Economics. “It appears the proposed rule would create a penalty system where the big guys [larger practices] will be funded by the little guys.”
Further reading:
Lund, who works primarily with independent medical groups in her work with the consulting firm, says that it is up to these smaller groups to take advantage of the comment period (through June 26) to push to change the winners-losers dynamic under MACRA and maintain the strength of independent practices.
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