AAFP Expends Huge Effort to Shape New Payment System

For 39 days this fall, a team of AAFP staffers and selected family physician members toiled in unison to construct comprehensive feedback in response to a request for information (RFI) from CMS that was published in the Oct. 1 Federal Register.(www.gpo.gov)

The AAFP's response(53 page PDF) to that RFI -- a document that covers implementation of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and promotion of alternative payment models (APMs) as part of the larger Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 -- is arguably one of the most important pieces of work undertaken by the AAFP in recent history.

According to Amy Mullins, M.D., the AAFP's medical director for quality improvement, that's because portions of the MACRA law stand to impact how Medicare will pay physicians beginning in 2019.

She noted that in more than 100 instances in the legislation, the HHS secretary is called on to develop policy to implement MIPS and APM payment methodologies.

"MACRA must now be implemented, and we're providing details for the HHS secretary. It's important for the Academy (and other stakeholders) to step up to the plate now to ensure that the program is created in a way that is favorable to physicians," said Mullins in an interview with AAFP News. "These comments will help define what physician payment will look like far into the future."