McKesson approved as QCDR for 2021 CMS merit-based incentive payment system
For the fifth consecutive year, McKesson has received approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to participate in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS ,as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry, or QCDR.
As a CMS-approved QCDR, Practice Insights, a practice performance analytics tool powered by McKesson’s new oncology technology and insights business Ontada, can collect and report clinical data on behalf of clinicians for both MIPS and custom QCDR quality measures to drive improvements in quality and cost of care. The designation enables iKnowMed electronic health record users to efficiently submit data directly to CMS without engaging a separate registry vendor, streamlining data submission and minimizing the need for additional administrative resources.
In addition, CMS approved all eight of the custom QCDR measures developed by The US Oncology Network and submitted as part of McKesson’s 2021 application, confirming the importance of these measures to the quality and integrity of oncology care.
“As a QCDR, we are pleased to be recognized as a CMS-approved organization that collects, reports and analyzes medical data with the ultimate aim to improve the quality of patient care,” said Marcus Neubauer, chief medical officer of The US Oncology Network, a network supported by McKesson of more than 1,380 independent, community-based physicians. “The approval of eight quality measures that we submitted is a success as much for our organization as for the entire field of oncology and for value-based care, as these measures help raise the bar on patient care while also addressing cost.”
The eight oncology-specific custom QCDR measures submitted by McKesson and approved by CMS include:
- Advance care planning in patients with metastatic cancer
- Patient-reported pain improvement
- Mutation testing for lung cancer completed prior to start of targeted therapy
- Supportive care drug utilization in last 14 days of life
- Hepatitis B serology testing and prophylactic treatment prior to receiving anti-CD20 targeting drugs
- Utilization of PET, PET/CT or CT scans for breast cancer stage 0, I or II at any time during the course of evaluation and treatment
- Utilization of GCSF in metastatic colorectal cancer
- Combination chemotherapy recommended or received within 4 months of diagnosis by women under 70 with AJCC stage T1cN0M0 to Stage 1B-III ER/PR negative breast cancer
“CMS continues to raise the standard for QCDR measure approval, with the goal of encouraging the measures that matter most to improving quality patient care,” said Lalan Wilfong, vice president of Value-Based Care and Quality Programs for Texas Oncology, a practice in The US Oncology Network. “Our ultimate goal is to utilize quality measures to improve the care we provide. It’s also important to limit the number of measures in the MIPS program to ease the reporting burden on clinicians and reduce the overall cost of care. For these reasons, we took great care in developing the custom measures, submitting a wealth of supporting data and research to support our case. The approval of each measure from CMS is a validation of the hard work, clinical acumen and patient-first mindset of our team, and we are honored to be part of this important work moving cancer care forward.”
Along with The US Oncology Network, McKesson also supports oncology practices through its Onmark group purchasing organization, and the QCDR measure approvals reflect the organization’s insight into the entire landscape of oncology care.
“I am extremely proud of the work we do to shepherd both The Network and Onmark practices along the value-based care continuum,” said Erin Crum, McKesson’s director of Quality Measurement Strategy. “Thanks to the collaborative efforts of diverse teams across McKesson, we are able to deliver reporting that is critical to oncology practices’ value-based care success.”