Two new bonus measures have been added to the Promoting Interoperability (PI) category in the MIPS (Merit-Based Incentive Payment System) program for 2019. The new measures are not required and do not contribute to the measure score but they do contribute 5 bonus points each. Both bonus measures can easily be achieved by most Pain Medicine Physicians. The measures are under the e-prescribing objective and read as follows:
- Query of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP)
For at least one Schedule II opioid electronically prescribed using CEHRT (certified electronic health record technology) during the performance period, the MIPS eligible clinician uses data from CEHRT to conduct a query of a PDMP for prescription drug history, except where prohibited and in accordance with applicable law.
- Verify Opioid Treatment Agreement
For at least one unique patient for whom a Schedule II opioid was electronically prescribed by the MIPS eligible clinician using CEHRT during the performance period, if the total duration of the patient’s Schedule II opioid prescriptions is at least 30 cumulative days within a 6-month look-back period, the MIPS eligible clinician seeks to identify the existence of a signed opioid treatment agreement and incorporates it into the patient’s electronic health record using CEHRT.
For 2019, both the reporting and scoring under the PI category has been simplified. There is a single measure set which includes new and existing PI performance category measures organized under 4 objectives. Measures are no longer classified as base score or performance score measures. Each measure will be scored by multiplying the performance rate by the available points for the measure. The PI comprises 25% of the total MIPs score.
A full-understanding of requirements and reporting methodologies can be found here.