CMS has recently revamped the look of the QPP website and also posted new resources to help clinicians successfully participate in the first year of the QPP. The following new resources have been posted to the website:

• MIPS quick start guide: Outlines the steps clinicians participating in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) need to take between now and March 2018 to prepare for and participate in MIPS, including checking participation status, choosing to participate as an individual or as part of a group, deciding how to submit data, and selecting measures and activities.
  
  
• Medicare Shared Savings Program and QPP fact sheet: Explains how the Shared Savings Program and the QPP align reporting requirements for participating ACOs and MIPS clinicians, and how certain tracks in Shared Savings Program ACOs meet Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) criteria under the QPP.
  
  
• MIPS APM fact sheet: Provides an overview of a specific type of APM, called a "MIPS APM," and the special APM scoring standard used for those in MIPS APMs.
  
  

Physicians who plan on reporting the CAHPS for MIPS measure as one of their quality measures to satisfy MIPS requirements in 2017 must use a CMS-approved CAHPS for MIPS survey vendor. As conditionally approved survey vendors, these organizations have demonstrated they have the facilities, project experience and staff expertise required to conduct the 2017 survey administration with appropriate rigor, given the demands of the survey procedures and timeline.

Final approval of these organizations is dependent on satisfactory completion of CMS training and submission of a Quality Assurance Plan. A final list of the CAHPS for MIPS survey vendors approved by CMS to administer the 2017 survey will be made publicly available this summer.

Keep in mind, physicians who are reporting the CAHPS for MIPS measure must register and inform CMS by June 30, 2017.