CMS Announces Updates to 2021 MIPS Automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Policy

Dear Valued Clients:

We are writing to inform you that on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced updates to its 2021 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Policy due to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic public health emergency (PHE).

According to CMS, “Due to the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic PHE, they will be applying the automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances (EUC) policy to all individual MIPS eligible clinicians for the 2021 MIPS performance year.”

Additionally, “The automatic EUC policy doesn’t apply to groups, virtual groups, or APM Entity participation.  

• Groups that submit data will be scored according to existing MIPS scoring policies. The MIPS eligible clinicians in the group will receive the group’s final score and associated  payment adjustment unless they have a higher score from individual or APM Entity participation. 

• IMPORTANT: Clinicians who are only eligible to participate in MIPS as part of a group aren’t eligible for an individual final score or the automatic EUC policy.”

For more information, and to read the full update from CMS, please visit the QPP website.  CMS COVID-19 resources can be found here and the specific update can be downloaded from here: New: Automatic Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Policy.

Sincerely,

The ICS Software Team

A Part of the Modernizing Medicine Family