MACRA - What it is and how we can help - Washington State Hospital Association

WSHA Hospital Safety & Quality Priorities: Historical Programs

The WSHA Safety & Quality team is a trusted and collaborative partner supporting Washington hospitals on several key quality and patient safety improvement programs. Historically, WSHA’s initiatives have aligned to support federal programs and support hospitals in achieving national patient safety aims such as:

Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) and Hospital Improvement Innovation (HIIN)
The Joint Commission Sentinel Events (CAMLAB_19_SE (jointcommission.org)
Center for Medicare Services (CMS) Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program | CMS
National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed ’27 Serious Reportable Events’ NQF: List of SREs (qualityforum.org)

When a program achieves milestones, objectives and industry standards of care that are widely adopted in our hospitals, our WSHA Board re-evaluates and re-prioritizes these initiatives. If a program has been successful in reducing patient harm, improving, and sustaining clinical quality outcomes in our hospitals, it may be considered ‘historical’ and no longer a key priority topic area. The Safety & Quality team recognizes that tools, resources, and access to materials for these historical programs and are still valuable to our members.

Welcome to the first Quality Payment Program Update. Recent Medicare Access and CHIP legislation is fundamentally changing the healthcare payment process. For practices to make this transition, it’s important to understand the Quality Payment Program. Our team of experts is here to help. We’ll be sending out regular program updates, providing helpful tools and resources, and inviting you to learning events. We’re also available to answer any questions you may have.

First Things First: It’s important to know that there are two paths in the Quality Payment Program:

Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs)

For the 2017 and 2018 MIPS performance periods, the following clinician types can participate in MIPS:

Physicians, which includes doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy (including osteopathic practitioners), doctors of dental surgery, doctors of dental medicine, doctors of podiatric medicine, doctors of optometry, and chiropractors;
Physician assistants (PAs);
Nurse practitioners (NPs);
Clinical nurse specialists;
Certified registered nurse anesthetists; and
Any clinician group that includes one of the professionals listed above.

Resources and Education

American Hospital Association. The AHA maintains a robust page of MACRA resources.

Qualis Health Toolkit: How to Succeed with MIPS Under the Quality Payment Program.

Quality Payment Program Resources.

MIPS Minute YouTube Channel. A YouTube channel maintained by Qualis, featuring short informative videos.

Events

The Washington State Hospital Association and the Washington State Medical Association have joined together to offer education programs to help hospitals, providers, leaders and administrative staff move to value-based reimbursement in MACRA.