Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a trio of proposed payment rules including the annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) (regulation; fact sheet; press release), which adopts a long-time recommendation of the CME Coalition to align FDA’s REMS program with the MIPS Quality Improvement Program as it relates to CME. The MPFS traditionally includes regulations governing the Quality Payment Program (QPP) and Open Payments, both of which have been of keen interest to the Coalition.
With respect to the QPP, the proposal (see pg. 1692 here) adopts a recommendation of the CME Coalition pertaining to the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) to align the Improvement Activity on CME (IA_PSPA_28) with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) risk and evaluation strategies (REMS) program for opioid analgesics. Specifically, for the first time, the proposed rule cites CME related to opioid analgesic REMS as a primary example of the type of activity that meets the requirements for physicians to satisfy this Improvement Activity. The Coalition, with the support of the ACCME, has repeatedly engaged on this issue with FDA and CMS, including delivering public remarks at an FDA workshop in support of this decision.
Additional background on the current Improvement Activity for CME is available on the Coalition’s Quality Improvement CME landing page.
Additional background on the current Improvement Activity for CME is available on the Coalition’s Quality Improvement CME landing page.
