If you have been affected by extreme and uncontrollable circumstances (rare events entirely outside of your control) you may apply to reweight any or all MIPS performance categories.

The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Value Pathways (MVPs) registration window is open for the 2023 performance year.  Individuals, groups, subgroups, and Alternative Payment Model (APM) Entities that wish to report an MCP can register until November 30, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET.  

It is not too early to plan for flu season!

The CDC recommends annual flu shots for everyone 6 months and older each flu season. September and October are the best times for most people to get vaccinated.

Recently, CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) sent letters to people with Medicare who may have been affected by a recent data breach. Approximately 47,000 new cards with new MBI numbers are being mailed to beneficiaries. 

On June 8, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new voluntary primary care payment model for Medicare called Making Care Primary (MCP) that will be tested in eight states, including North Carolina. CMS is offering this model for qualified Medicare providers in North Carolina beginning in July 2024.  Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people age 65 or older, people under age 65 with certain disabilities and people with end-stage renal disease.

We encourage you to subscribe  to the Quality Payment Program Small Practices Newsletter. It is a valuable resource from CMS to help your practice be successful in the Quality Payment Program. This week we bring you selected resources:

"The idea of planning for care through the end of life seems distant and hard to grasp for a lot of us — especially those considered young or without current health conditions. When are we at the end? When we’re diagnosed with cancer? When we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time? “Advance care planning” is similarly vague. In advance of what? Plus, a lot of us assume a doctor or medical team is responsible for planning our care." Aly Lynch, 3/1/2023

Check out this upcoming webinar on March 7th, make sure to register in advance!

Under President Biden’s prescription drug law, drug companies will pay rebates to the federal government for raising prescription drug prices faster than the rate of inflation

• Colorectal cancer was the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in North Carolina in 2019.
  
  
• Data from 2020 shows that 20% of people aged 50-75 in the US have never been screened for this disease.
  
  
• In March 2021, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) changed screening recommendations to lower the age to begin screening from 50 to 45.