PsychPRO Reaping Benefits for Clinicians Reporting MIPS Data

PsychPRO, APA’s mental health registry, continues to grow and is now helping more than 1,000 participants, including psychiatrists and behavioral health clinicians, meet quality reporting requirements.

For psychiatrists, who comprise more than half of the PsychPRO participants, the registry is also helping them meet maintenance of certification requirements.

The registry makes it especially easy for mental health professionals who participate in Medicare and are required to report quality data under MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) to do so—and that can mean higher reimbursement: 38% of PsychPRO participants who were required to report MIPS data in 2017 qualified for as much as a 4% bonus in reimbursement in 2019; this year, an estimated 55% of PsychPRO participants reporting 2018 performance data will reap up to a 5% increase in payment, depending on their MIPS score.

Mental health professionals interested in how PsychPRO can help them meet MIPS and other requirements will want to attend the Annual Meeting session “MIPS and Beyond: Using PsychPRO to Inform the Development and Testing of Quality Measures.” The registry will also have a demonstration area in APA Central in the Exhibit Hall.

The Annual Meeting session will describe how the registry is assisting in the development of new quality measures. In 2018, under a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), APA received a three-year award to develop meaningful quality measures for behavioral health. The initiative engages patients, technical experts, and a Learning Collaborative of diverse behavioral health clinicians. Learning Collaborative participants are members of PsychPRO.

PsychPRO (Psychiatric Patient Registry Online) was launched in May 2017 to help members achieve the following:

Avoid payment penalties and earn bonuses for meeting quality reporting requirements while minimizing the burden of data collection.

Achieve optimal patient outcomes through tools to measure, chart, and benchmark clinical care.

Automatically obtain Maintenance of Certification Part IV credit for quality improvement.

Develop better ways to treat and prevent psychiatric illnesses and help the field of psychiatry develop and test its own quality measures.

There are four MIPS performance categories: quality, promoting interoperability, cost, and improvement activities.

A total MIPS score of 70 or greater in the 2017 reporting year qualified a practice for possible bonus money on its 2019 Medicare reimbursements. Not reporting anything resulted in a 4% penalty. (For an overview of the Quality Payment System, go to the APA’s Payment Reform Toolkit.)

PsychPRO participation has grown steadily, with an average of 300 clinicians joining each year. In 2017, well ahead of schedule, the registry qualified as a CMS Qualified Clinical Data Registry and has maintained that status through 2020. Individual clinicians and small and large group practices from 25 states are represented in PsychPRO.

Nonetheless, an estimated minimum of 5,000 psychiatrists required to report MIPS data could benefit from joining PsychPRO; according to CMS data, 30% of these failed to report the data in 2017 required to avoid a penalty in 2019. And the stakes will get higher with possible bonuses (or penalties) of 7% in 2021 for those reporting 2019 performance data, and 9% in 2022 for those reporting data this year.

“I urge APA members and other mental health professionals to join PsychPRO,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A. “It’s one of APA’s most successful initiatives and provides real, tangible benefits to participants—making their professional lives easier, reducing administrative burdens by making reporting requirements simple, and potentially helping them earn bonuses under the MIPS program.”

APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D., who has made quality a priority issue in his presidency, commented, “If you aren’t a PsychPRO participant yet, please attend the Annual Meeting session and learn how this tool can help your practice and how you can become a part of a community that is helping to drive the quality of mental health care forward in the field.” ■