On October 30th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule for the Calendar Year (CY) 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). The final rule includes modifications to existing physician quality reporting programs including the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and the Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier (Value Modifier). The final rule also begins transitioning these programs into the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). MIPS is set to begin in CY 2019.
The attached document summarizes several major provisions of the final rule. The final rule is available here.