Promoting Interoperability (PI) is the redefined version of Meaningful Use and renamed version of Advancing Care information within the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). The primary changes within PI for 2019 are:
- Fewer measures
- Lower thresholds than traditional Meaningful Use
- Greater point focus on measures measures that track the sharing of data with other doctors, patients, and patients’ families
In Meaningful Use, a provider failed if they missed the threshold for even one measure. PI officially recognizes that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t appropriate and, instead, requires a very low level of minimum participation.
Base Participation Requirement
The base requirement within PI is that the clinician participate successfully in all 6 measures:
- the clinician must complete a security risk analysis,
- attest to a numerator of at least 1 for:
- Electronic Prescribing
- Support Electronic Referral Loops by Sending Health Information
- Support Electronic Referral Loops by Receiving and Incorporating Health Information
- Provide Patients Electronic Access to their Health Information
- attest to active engagement with at least 2 Public Health or Clinical Data Registries
An EC that does not satisfy the base requirements would receive a 0 in the Promoting Interoperability performance category.
Points
Each of the six measures included in the performance score has an assigned maximum point value. The clinician’s statistical performance within each measure then determines the number of those points that they receive. As an example, a clinician who scores 50% for Support Electronic Referral Loops by Sending Health Information would receive 50% of the 20 available points, or 10. In the end, the sum of these points is the clinician’s performance score.
Exclusions
Exclusions are available for all measures except Provide Patients Electronic Access to Their Health Information and these are described in each measure summary below. Importantly, an exclusion does not grant the clinician the full point total for the measure. Instead, the associated points are reallocated elsewhere. Thus, while exclusions are good to keep in mind for instances where success is not possible, success should end up being the preferred path forward.
PI Composite Score
The PI Composite Score is the sum of all measure points in the category. A score of 100 or more would earn the clinician full credit within the PI performance category (25 points). A score less than 100 would earn the clinician a corresponding percentage of 25 points. If a clinician’s composite score was 80, for example, they’d earn 80% of 25 points = 20.
2019 features the “Promoting Interoperability” (formerly known as Stage 3) objectives. Each link below provides a description of how the measures within that objective are accomplished.
Protect Patient Health Information
Support Electronic Referral Loops by Sending Health Information
Support Electronic Referral Loops by Receiving and Incorporating Health Information
Provide Patients Electronic Access to Their Health Information
Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange
Resources
Note that the “Promoting Interoperability” name change took place after the following resources had been produced, but the information is still appropriate.
- 2019 MIPS – Introduction to Promoting Interoperability (Rev360 webinar)
- MIPS Data Reporting Series: Configuring the Promoting Interoperability Scorecard (video)
- 2019 PI Measure Search Tool
- 2019 CMS Promoting Interoperability fact sheet
- 2019 CMS Promoting Interoperability Scoring Methodology fact sheet
Overwhelmed by MIPS? RevAspire is a technology enabled service that supports, equips and assists you through the entire process of CMS quality reporting while freeing you to spend more time with your patients. Learn more about the benefits of RevAspire partnership here.
