The increased emphasis on value-based care requires doctors and practices to compile detailed patient data for reporting. However, that’s much easier than it sounds! The technology needed to track patient data is available, but also expensive and time-consuming to use. The data that you need isn’t always easily accessible, as patients move from provider to provider (and system to system). How can you find the patient data you need for value-based care report requirements?
What Caused the Change?
The biggest push behind value-based care comes from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), which requires doctors with over $90,000 in Medicare Part B charges or over 200 Part B beneficiaries to enroll in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or an Advanced Alternative Payment Model. MIPS includes a whopping 271 quality measures, and every doctor enrolled has to select 6 of them to report on. Private payers might have different requirements, but most require data collection and value-based care reporting.
The Challenge of Value-Based Care Reporting
Electronic health records are being changed and reconfigured to ease the new burden of reporting, but that doesn’t mean the learning curve has been easy. Unfortunately, the current value-based care metrics are not always easy to find or track, and there are plenty of issues with the system itself. Some doctors feel that tracking puts the emphases on electronic health records (EHR) and not treating patients. Other doctors are concerned that clinical quality is measured on process metrics, like whether or not preventative screenings take place, instead of actual outcomes.
How to Find the Data You Need
One approach involves tying your measurement to overall strategic priorities. One successful healthcare network encouraged all physicians and specialists to focus on 40 total metrics. While most of those metrics were tied to primary care, specialists received alerts at appointments when the patient they were seeing was also overdue for a pap smear or colonoscopy. By encouraging a team effort to meet tracking requirements, this network found great success.
Another successful strategy is creating your own internal metric definitions. One of the most common reporting issues is payers asking providers to report on measures that seem to be identical. However, the difference is usually in the details. To create standard internal metrics, look at the best-practice suggestions from industry leaders and work with the appropriate staff members at your practice. For example, before arriving at a standard definition for diabetes metrics, consult with primary care doctors, diabetes educators and endocrinologists.
While there is no magic way to track and report patient data yet, your practice should be engaged in constantly refining the process to get the best results for your patients.
Partner with Vetters Enterprises Help with Your Value-Based Care Reporting
Vetters Enterprises specializes in practice management, private practice business support and revenue cycle optimization. We can perform in-depth assessments of your practice or facility and identify potential issues. Let us keep your business as healthy as you keep your patients! Give us a call at (443) 352-0088.
