Alabama Regional Extension Center
ALREC’s trusted advisors offer expert guidance on navigating the complex rules and regulations of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System while striving to maximize your potential for a positive payment adjustment.
We tailor our services for each individual practice based on needs and preferences, software/hardware capabilities, and help bridge the gap between technology and healthcare delivery making information technology work for you. We are physician and patient advocates assisting through the continuous changes in healthcare to help ease the burden of regulations and requirements allowing you to focus on patient care.
MACRA
MACRA is the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 signed into law in April of 2015. The goal was to replace the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and tie Medicare payments to quality or value by establishing the Quality Payment Program (QPP).
The Quality Payment Program consists of two payment tracks:
- The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
- Alternative Payment Models (APMs)
MIPS
In prior years, Medicare had multiple programs in place to help incentivize providers to reduce costs, improve performance, and focus on quality of care. The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) was created to streamline that effort into one single payment program.
MIPS is comprised of 4 categories:
- Quality – previously PQRS program
- Promoting Interoperability – previously MU program
- Cost – previously VBM program
- Improvement Activities – new
The Alabama Regional Extension Center (ALREC) strives to help our providers thrive rather than struggle throughout the MIPS process. Our goal is to ease the burden of the dynamic regulations and requirements allowing clinicians to focus on patient care. We are certified professionals with clinical experience and EHR implementation experience. Our consultants are proficient in practice transformation interoperability and information exchange.
As Trusted Advisors we have a complex understanding of the eligibility requirements, measure selections, reporting options, and audit preparation which allows us to offer unique solutions to our providers that enable them to maximize their MIPS score. achieve the highest Composite Performance Score (CPS) possible, thereby minimizing the risk of obtaining a substantial negative payment adjustment.
ALREC memberships include MIPS consulting services and data submission support. We
provide hands-on support with helping to determine eligibility status for each clinician
within the practice, continuous tracking of performance measures for each clinician
throughout the year, and gathering all required audit documentation to assure a successful
MIPS data submission.
Other services included in the membership are periodic newsletters, educational materials,
security risk analysis, audit support, remote access and desktop sharing, telephone
and email support.
What a Trusted ALREC Advisor Can Do For You
- Practice Assessment
- Workflow improvement and/or Redesign
- Monthly MIPS compliance monitoring via secure encrypted technology
- Compliance Failure Resolution (Troubleshoot & Educate)
- Privacy & Security Risk Assessment
- Audit Preparation
- In-Depth, Seminars, webinars, newsletters and other educational opportunities
- Annual MIPS data submission
- Patient Engagement Strategies
- Help to mitigate performance gaps
- Achieve a POSITIVE payment adjustment!