Page 7 - NAACOS Membership Brochure

NAACOS Convinces Congress

To Fix Advanced APM Bonuses

• In 2021, NAACOS kept CMS informed about major obstacles facing MSSP ACOs
in adopting eCQMs for quality reporting, including consolidating information
across dozens or even hundreds of electronic health records, which often lack full
interoperability.

• Many ACOs faced staggering costs and complexity to comply with the new MSSP
quality requirements. In response to NAACOS advocacy, including countless
meetings, letters, surveys, grassroots outreach, and engagement with other leading
national stakeholders, CMS granted ACOs a three-year delay in shifting to eCQMs.
The delay provides time for NAACOS to work with ACOs and the administration
to ensure quality measurement and reporting requirements are fair, not overly
burdensome, and capture a full picture of the high-quality care ACOs provide.

What’s Next in 2022

As the Biden administration enters a second year, we expect CMS to ramp up the shift
to accountable care and value-based payment. NAACOS will use our strong foundation
with CMS and other regulators to advance key ACO policies and issues. NAACOS
2022 priorities include fixing ACO benchmarks and risk adjustment, refining quality

measurement and reporting requirements, improving the Direct Contracting Model,
and assisting ACOs in addressing health inequities.

Working with Congress to reinforce the shift to value-based care also is critical. MACRA
jumpstarted the shift to value, but initial incentives like the advanced APM bonuses
will sunset soon. Without congressional action this year, performance year 2022 will

be the last year to qualify for the 5 percent bonus. Building on our work with leading
congressional offices to introduce legislation extending the APM bonus for six years
and easing payment and patient count “QP” thresholds needed to earn the bonus,
passing MACRA fixes in 2022 is a top priority for NAACOS.