Almost Two-Thirds of Providers Are not Prepared for the Reporting Rules of MACRA

In accordance to a new survey; highlighting the a deficiency of financial resources and qualified information technology (IT) professionals, 64 percent of health care providers claimed that they weren’t ready to meet reporting requirements under the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The survey was produced by Stoltenberg Consulting by polling attendees at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in the region of Orlando, Florida.

The budget’s deficiency (44 percent) and the lack of qualified, experienced job applicants to fill health information technology positions (43 percent) were mentioned as the key reasons why health care agencies aren’t completely staffed in their IT departments. Almost 54% of respondents stated that seeking qualified health information technology (IT) staff and support is “difficult,” while twenty-eight percent of survey participants said it as “very difficult.”
68% respondents accepted that preparation for complying with the MACRA QPP (Quality Payment Program) should be a combined effort across the clinical, financial, and information technology departments. Approximately 31% of respondents recognized “revising data management/reporting mechanisms to meet new reporting requirements” as the primary QPP issue. That barrier was almost even with “encouraging the whole organization to collectively work together to achieve aims” (29 percent).
In accordance to the survey report, the victorious reporting of MACRA Quality Payment Program (QPP) needs more than just passive submission of claim. Victory needs a defined, focused team that involves clinical, IT and operational departments, all supervised by an executive representative.
The report asserts, “The 1st step for this multidisciplinary group is to achieve a MACRA QPP’s solid understanding. With this foundation, the group can more effectively assess reporting mechanisms and recognize where reporting gaps occur and how those will be reduced. The group should then develop a multi-year roadmap, involving alternative QPP path considerations that demonstrate the potential affect on reimbursement. A healthcare organization will be permitted by the roadmap to quickly adapt its MACRA program from year to year, preparing for more stringent requirements in upcoming reporting years or transition from one reporting path to another.”
In February, after his confirmation, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price was emphasized by physician agencies to make MACRA voluntary, a shift that could free doctors from the electronic health record (EHR) data entry’s burden. The value-based payment law has been lauded by the other organizations as one of several regulatory efforts that will make better care and lower costs.