Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has broadened the definition of “small providers” as it applies to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, to the extent that physician practices with less than $90,000 in Medicare revenue or fewer than 200 unique Medicare patients per year would be exempt from having to comply with MACRA.
Between this new standard and the one proposed for next year, the move will exclude roughly 834,000 more clinicians from complying with the quality reporting program under MACRA. (Originally, the limits were $30,000 or fewer than 100 Medicare patients.) CMS estimates only 37% of 1.5 million clinicians now billing under Medicare will be complying with quality reporting system under MACRA. Nonetheless, CMS also says 65% of Medicare payments would still be reported. The deadline for submitting comments on the proposed new rule is August 30.