Can MIPS be salvaged?

With the passage of MACRA in 2015, Congress combined and reformed existing physician payment incentives in Medicare to create the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS. MIPS’ goal was to encourage clinicians to deliver more efficient, higher-quality care, but many observers have raised concerns that MIPS will fail to achieve this objective, while also creating substantial administrative burdens.

On Friday, July 20th, the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy hosted a conference to discuss whether MIPS is achieving the desired objectives and whether the program should be maintained, reformed, or even eliminated. Two expert panels convened. The first focused on experience with MIPS to date, and the second discussed whether the program should be reformed or replaced and, if so, how.