On April 20, 2020, CMS announced that, as part of its effort to prompt clinicians who take part in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) to contribute to research and evidence initiatives for the COVID-19 pandemic, new Improvement Activity COVID-19 Clinical Trials has been created.
The new improvement activity requires clinicians to attest that they participate in a COVID-19 clinical trial utilizing a drug or biological product and report their findings through a clinical data repository or clinical data registry for the duration of the study.
According to the press release, there is flexibility in the type of clinical trial in which clinicians participate, “which could include the traditional double-blind placebo-controlled trial to an adaptive or pragmatic design that flexes to workflow and clinical practice.”
The COVID-19 Clinical Trials activity designation in the MIPS program is IA_ERP_3 and has been assigned a weight of High for category scoring purposes.
APS will provide additional details as they become available from CMS.
Access the press release at:
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/trump-administration-champions-reporting-covid-19-clinical-trial-data-through-quality-payment
For more information on the COVID-19 clinical trials, go to the U.S. National Library of Medicine website at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19
