EHR Meaningful Use & MIPS Requirements 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal law established the MIPS and APM pathways under the Quality Payment Program?
- HITECH Act
- Affordable Care Act
- MACRA (Correct answer)
- HIPAA
Correct answer: MACRA
MACRA (Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015) created the Quality Payment Program, which includes MIPS and Advanced APMs.
Question 2: What is the 'MIPS performance threshold' used to determine?
- Whether a clinician must use a certified EHR
- The score below which a negative payment adjustment is applied (Correct answer)
- The minimum number of patients a clinician must report on
- The annual deadline for submitting MIPS data
Correct answer: The score below which a negative payment adjustment is applied
The MIPS performance threshold is the score below which eligible clinicians receive a negative payment adjustment to their Medicare payments.
Question 3: In Meaningful Use Stage 1, what was the minimum reporting period for eligible professionals?
- 30 days
- 60 days
- 90 days (Correct answer)
- Full calendar year
Correct answer: 90 days
Stage 1 Meaningful Use required eligible professionals to demonstrate use over a continuous 90-day period in the first year of participation.
Question 4: Which of the following is a HIGH-WEIGHTED Improvement Activity under MIPS?
- Participating in a qualified clinical data registry
- Completing a PCMH recognition (Correct answer)
- Using telehealth services
- Conducting regular staff EHR training
Correct answer: Completing a PCMH recognition
Achieving Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition is a high-weighted Improvement Activity that alone can satisfy the full Improvement Activities category requirement.
Question 5: What is the 'low-volume threshold' in MIPS used for?
- Identifying clinicians eligible for bonus payments
- Excluding clinicians with minimal Medicare billing from mandatory MIPS participation (Correct answer)
- Setting the minimum number of quality measures to report
- Determining the cost category weighting
Correct answer: Excluding clinicians with minimal Medicare billing from mandatory MIPS participation
The low-volume threshold excludes clinicians who bill below a certain amount or see few Medicare patients from mandatory MIPS participation.
Question 6: Under Stage 2 Meaningful Use, which objective required providers to use secure electronic messaging to communicate with patients?
- Patient Reminders
- Patient Electronic Access
- Secure Messaging (Correct answer)
- Patient-Specific Education
Correct answer: Secure Messaging
The Secure Messaging objective required eligible professionals to use secure electronic messaging to communicate with patients on relevant health information.
Question 7: What is the primary purpose of the 'Cost' performance category in MIPS?
- To reward clinicians for reducing administrative overhead
- To measure the Medicare spending associated with a clinician's patients (Correct answer)
- To assess expenditures on EHR technology
- To evaluate billing accuracy and fraud prevention
Correct answer: To measure the Medicare spending associated with a clinician's patients
The Cost category evaluates Medicare spending attributed to a clinician's patients using claims data, requiring no additional reporting from the clinician.
EHR Meaningful Use & MIPS Requirements 3
Which federal law established the MIPS and APM pathways under the Quality Payment Program?