CMS Holds Physicians Harmless from MIPS Penalties in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic
Last Updated: Feb 25, 2021
On Feb. 25, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) announced it will hold physicians harmless from up to nine percent
MIPS penalties due to the significant disruptions of the COVID-19 public health
emergency on physician practices’ performance in 2020.
The Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances Hardship Exception
policy will be automatically applied to ALL MIPS eligible clinicians who do not
submit any MIPS data for the 2020 performance period and avoid a 2022 payment
penalty. CMS also is reopening the hardship exception application for group
practices, virtual groups, and alternative payment model entities who missed
the previous 2020 deadline. The re-opened application deadline is March 31,
2021. Note, groups and eligible clinicians who submit data in at least two MIPS
categories will override the hardship exception and be eligible to earn a bonus
from the exceptional performance bonus pool or potentially be subject to a
penalty.