The CME Coalition has submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule, urging the agency to continue recognizing accredited quality improvement CME as an important component of Medicare’s quality and value-based payment programs. The Coalition supports CMS’s efforts to modernize the Quality Payment Program and transition toward a more focused, clinically meaningful approach to quality measurement, while emphasizing that clinicians need effective tools to translate identified quality gaps into improvements in practice.
CMS currently recognizes accredited performance-improvement CME as a MIPS Improvement Activity. Unlike CME activities that simply provide educational content, qualifying programs must identify a quality or safety gap, establish measurable aims, implement interventions, and collect and analyze performance data. The Coalition argues that this makes QI-CME particularly well aligned with CMS’s evolution toward more focused quality measurement and MIPS Value Pathways. As the Coalition noted, “measurement alone does not necessarily produce change in clinical practice,” and QI-CME can help bridge the gap between identifying a problem and implementing meaningful improvements in care.
The Coalition is asking CMS to maintain recognition of QI-CME as an eligible Improvement Activity, ensure it remains available within appropriate MIPS Value Pathways, and engage accredited CME stakeholders as CMS continues to refine the program. Preserving this pathway will help ensure that the next generation of Medicare’s quality programs not only measures performance, but also gives clinicians meaningful opportunities to use evidence-based education to improve clinical practice and patient care.
CMS currently recognizes accredited performance-improvement CME as a MIPS Improvement Activity. Unlike CME activities that simply provide educational content, qualifying programs must identify a quality or safety gap, establish measurable aims, implement interventions, and collect and analyze performance data. The Coalition argues that this makes QI-CME particularly well aligned with CMS’s evolution toward more focused quality measurement and MIPS Value Pathways. As the Coalition noted, “measurement alone does not necessarily produce change in clinical practice,” and QI-CME can help bridge the gap between identifying a problem and implementing meaningful improvements in care.
The Coalition is asking CMS to maintain recognition of QI-CME as an eligible Improvement Activity, ensure it remains available within appropriate MIPS Value Pathways, and engage accredited CME stakeholders as CMS continues to refine the program. Preserving this pathway will help ensure that the next generation of Medicare’s quality programs not only measures performance, but also gives clinicians meaningful opportunities to use evidence-based education to improve clinical practice and patient care.
