A Hospital Administrator Explains: MIPS

Hey everybody!  Are you having a good day?  I hope so.  How about this fantastic weather we’re having?  Awesome, hey let’s talk about the cool new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)!  This thing is gonna be sweet and it’s super easy.

A while back the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and replaced it with the Quality Payment Program (QPP) which includes our good friend, MIPS.  Alright, enough with the history lesson, you know what I’m saying?!

Your MIPS score is how you’ll get paid, and trust me I want you to get paid and be really happy.  We’re on the same team, buddy!  Figuring out your MIPS score is a piece of cake.  All you do is add Quality (Q), Advancing Care Information (ACI), Clinical Practice Improvement Activities (CPIA) and Resource Use (RU).  That’s it!  No Big Deal (NBD)!

Now, Medicare has introduced a bit of a wrinkle beyond the crazy simple “MIPS = Q+ACI+CPIA+RU” formula.  Each provider’s MIPS formula will carry a Personality Modifier (PM) based on an extensive 4-month battery of psychological testing.  Then, you will be asked to supply a small sample of blood, perspiration, and ocular discharge which will be cross-referenced against all providers to determine exactly how much Blood, Sweat, and Tears (BST) you have given in comparison to others.  No biggie, right?  As long as your BST score is in the top 50th percentile, you got it made in the shade… as long as you can pass the Annual Patient Gauntlet (APG) which consists of providing an accurate diagnosis to a standardized patient while simultaneously charting on a different standardized patient.  All you gotta do is finish the APG in under 3 minutes and you’re home free, easy peasy.

Here’s where the whole thing gets super-neato mosquito.  We’ve integrated all this into the new and improved MIPS formula.  You’ll be shocked how easy it will be to know if you are any good at being a doctor and whether or not you will get money for being one, and TRUST me, I want you to get all the money.  Here’s the formula:

MIPS = Q + ACI + CPIA + RU ± PM² + ∑(n+¾÷BST) x cos⁡ n(BST÷WTF) + √bn(sin⁡ APG÷FU)

That’s it!  Might as well be “MIPS = $$$$”

This may seem a bit arduous, but in the end it’s all about patient care.  That’s why I went into hospital administration, to remind other people that it’s all about patient care.  Cool!  See you later!