SPH Analytics, the top ranked MACRA and MIPS Technology vendor, announced today that 100% of its MIPS-eligible clients have successfully submitted for the 2017 MIPS reporting year, ensuring all avoided the CMS negative penalty. In addition, 50% of SPH clients achieved “Exceptional Performance”, making them eligible for bonus payments. SPH submitted MIPS data for more than 70 provider groups (TINs), representing more than a million patients and more than 1500 MIPS-eligible clinicians across primary care, urgent care, and specialty practices.

SPH is approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) for 2017 and 2018 as both a Qualified Registry and a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR). QCDRs can report data for individual clinicians or groups for all MIPS performance categories that require data submission. Further, a QCDR can host “non-MIPS” measures approved by CMS for reporting.

The Exceptional Performance bonus in MIPS is a pool of $500 million reserved for top MIPS performers. To be an exceptional performer in MIPS, providers must earn 70 out of 100 points for their Composite Performance Score. This 70-point threshold applies in both 2017 and 2018.

“We are so pleased with our performance in the first year of MIPS reporting,” stated Dr. Terri Ashmeade, Chief Quality Officer at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, an SPH Population Care client. “Our organization had not widely deployed Quality Data Codes in our EHR, so we had to work with the SPH team throughout the year to optimize our data using other codified data and structured text fields. We achieved scores well above what we would have done had we simply reported out of Epic, and we attained Exceptional Performance by monitoring our quality improvement work via our Population Care dashboard and through the help and guidance of the SPH team.”

The Exceptional Performance status achieved by SPH clients can be credited to the fact that, unlike other QCDRs, SPH’s Population Care™ solution goes beyond basic MIPS data submission. Its integrated clinical measure dashboard enables MIPS-eligible clinicians to not only fulfill reporting requirements, but to monitor, manage, and improve performance throughout the data collection year. Further, SPH’s proprietary Three Facet Data Mining™ enables clients to iteratively improve their scores by finding additional data points in their EHR systems that qualify for the measure.

SPH client, Gastroenterology Associates of Pensacola, achieved a 100% score for the Quality performance category through Three Facet Data Mining to identify custom codes and terminology used in their AllScripts EHR and practice management system. Michael Goldsberry, Director of Health Information Technology, stated, “This is a substantial accomplishment for our practice. As the busiest endoscopy center in Florida, workflow and optimization are critical to our practice. SPH enabled us to maintain our optimal workflow and still achieve a perfect Quality score for MIPS. Our staff worked closely with SPH in a team-based approach to identify the correct data elements to satisfy the MIPS quality measures. SPH is doing something that very few companies are capable of, and our perfect Quality score could not have been achieved using our EHR alone.”

“At SPH Analytics our core values drive us to be innovative and results-driven with relentless client focus, and our MIPS success reflects these core values. I am so proud of the impact we are providing our clients through our end-to-end MIPS solution,” said Amy Amick, CEO of SPH Analytics. “Our clients represent a broad spectrum of MIPS eligible clinicians, from specialists to PCPs to urgent care physicians, and our Population Care solution enabled each of them to meet their MIPS goals for 2017. Now is the time to start optimizing for the 2018 MIPS program, and we look forward to empowering our clients to exceed their goals in 2018 as they continue to raise the quality bar and in support of their transition to value-based care.”

In addition to its Population Care Quality Measures dashboard, SPH Analytics is also a CMS-approved vendor for the CAHPS® for MIPS Survey and its Population Care Patient Registry can earn providers credits in the Advancing Care Information and Improvement Activity performance categories, helping to comprehensively support participation in MIPS.