The MIPS Promoting Interoperability (PI) category promotes patient engagement and electronic exchange of information using certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT). The MIPS Promoting Interoperability category aims to improve patient access to their health information, the exchange of information between providers and pharmacies, and the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of healthcare data. The following information pertains to Traditional MIPS.
What Are The New Guidelines For MIPS Promoting Interoperability?
For 2022, the MIPS PI performance category:
- Is worth 25% of your MIPS final score (if no other MIPS categories are reweighted).
- Has a minimum performance period of 90 continuous days between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.
- Uses performance-based scoring at the individual measure level.
- Requires 2015 Edition CHERT, 2015 Edition Cures Update CEHRT, or a combination of both.
MIPS Promoting Interoperability Requirements
You are required to participate in the Promoting Interoperability performance category, unless you:
- Are a certain type of clinician that qualifies you for automatic reweighting,
- Have a certain special status that qualifies you for automatic reweighting, or
- Have an approved MIPS Promoting Interoperability Performance Category Hardship Exception.
What’s New with Promoting Interoperability in 2022?
- Clinical social workers and small practices qualify for automatic reweighting of the Promoting Interoperability performance category beginning with performance year (PY) 2022.
- We added a new required, but unscored attestation measure, the High Priority Practices Guide of the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides measure, beginning with PY 2022.
- We revised the Prevention of Information Blocking attestation statements to distinguish this attestation from the separate information blocking policies established in the 21st Century Cures Act final rule. This attestation has been renamed Actions to Limit or Restrict Interoperability.
- We revised the Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange objective requirements to support public health agencies during future threats and the long-term COVID-19 recovery process:
- Clinicians are required to report on the 1) Immunization Registry Reporting and 2) Electronic Case Reporting measures.
- We added a 4th exclusion for the Electronic Case Reporting measure, available for PY 2022 only.
- Clinicians can optionally report on the:1) Public Health Registry Reporting, OR 2) Clinical Data Registry Reporting, OR 3) Syndromic Surveillance Reporting measures for 5 bonus points.
Maximizing Your MIPS Promoting Interoperability Performance
Educating your staff is key to maximizing your MIPS promoting interoperability performance. Your staff should understand each of the required promoting interoperability measures and how your electronic health record (EHR) relates to those measures. Proper documentation is required for your EHR to reflect the correct data for each measure. It is also extremely important to work with your vendor to ensure your system is 2015 Edition CHERT, 2015 Edition Cures Update CEHRT, or a combination of both. Also, don’t be afraid to ask your EHR for specific functionality features. For example, your EHR may not market some functionality such as ECR, bi-directional interfaces and so forth. The availability of these features may surprise you. Your EHR vendor may offer online learning and training sessions to help ensure you establish proper workflow to meet the required standards and objectives, as well as system optimization. Also, knowing how to correctly run reports can help identify gaps and areas that need improvement. Make sure to run reports regularly throughout the year to allow enough time for changes to improve performance. Some changes may require new workflows and additional provider and staff training. If you are looking for additional support or guidance on the MIPS program – please reach out to our MIPS Consultants.
