try $10,000 in Medicare allowed charges. TMA told CMS to set the low-volume threshold at $250,000. That would exempt physicians who have no possibility of a positive re- turn on their investment in the cost of reporting. For physicians with less than $250,000 in Medicare revenue, reporting should be op- tional, and physicians who attempt compliance should be exempt from payment penalties.
• Delay the start: The rule will be finalized around Nov. 1. Practices will have to begin collecting data and making big changes in their operations on Jan. 1. This gives physicians only two months to prepare, and they won’t be ready. Support staff won’t be ready. Elec- tronic health record vendors won’t be ready. TMA told CMS the mea- surement period for 2017 should be reduced to six months and start no sooner than July 1. (The data col- lected in 2017 affects physicians’ Medicare payments in 2019.)
• Set the performance threshold low: The “performance threshold” is the most important factor affect- ing MACRA’s overall impact on small practices. CMS has complete discretion to set the performance threshold, which is the score a phy- sician must earn to avoid penalties. The threshold also will determine how much MACRA will shift Medi- care payments from smaller physi- cian practices to larger groups and health care systems. To reduce the negative impact on small practices, TMA urged CMS to set the perfor- mance threshold at 15 percent in the first year of implementation.
For more details, visit www.texmed
.org/MACRA. Read “Bracing for MAC- RA” in July Texas Medicine, pages 47– 52, or visit
www.texmed.org/Bracing forMACRA, to learn about the quality- based payment pathways designed to replace SGR and how TMA can help practices navigate the labyrinthine payment paradigm.
September 2016 TEXAS MEDICINE 19
STAT!REF NOW AVAILABLE TO TMA MEMBERS
The TMA Knowledge Center now offers STAT!Ref® to TMA
members. Access will be available through the members-only TMA E-Resources page on the TMA website, www.texmed
.org/
ask_a_librarian.aspx. STAT!Ref lets users intuitively cross-search full-text titles, journals, and authoritative, evidence-based point-of-care resources. With more than 600 resources (and growing) in more than 50 health care disciplines, STAT!Ref provides the latest health care information in a customizable and con- venient format. STAT!Ref goes where you go, accessible by desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. For more information, visit
www.statref.com. New features include Board Vitals USMLE and Scientific American databases from Decker — Medicine and Surgery. Questions? Contact the TMA Knowledge Center at (800) 880-7955, or email
knowledge@texmed.org.
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