For physicians
MIPS and quality reporting
Most of what this testing produces is documentation you are already required to generate. The difference is that it is generated as measurement rather than as attestation.
This page describes how clinical data maps onto quality reporting categories. It is not billing guidance and it makes no claim about payment. Confirm current program requirements with the CMS Quality Payment Program before relying on any of it.
The four MIPS performance categories
The Merit-based Incentive Payment System scores eligible clinicians across four categories: Quality, Cost, Improvement Activities and Promoting Interoperability. Weights and specific measure specifications change annually and are published by CMS at qpp.cms.gov. The relevant point here is what kind of data each category consumes.
Quality
Consumes measure-level clinical data — the results of things actually done and recorded. Objective measurement is the ideal input, because it is unambiguous and it is date-stamped.
Improvement Activities
Consumes evidence that a defined activity was implemented across a population, such as systematic screening or a care-coordination process. A standing order set produces exactly that evidence.
Promoting Interoperability
Consumes evidence of structured electronic exchange. How results reach the chart therefore matters — see EMR integration.
The clinical domains this testing documents
Without naming specific measure identifiers, which change every performance year, the assessments in this suite generate objective documentation in the following domains:
- Body mass index screening and follow-up. Height, weight and body composition are recorded at every assessment, with a follow-up plan attached rather than a bare number.
- Blood pressure documentation and control. Recorded seated and, where indicated, positionally.
- Diabetes care. Glycemic markers from the laboratory panel, plus foot examination evidence from the sudomotor and vascular studies.
- Tobacco use screening and cessation intervention. Recorded at intake, and directly relevant because smoking is the strongest single association with peripheral artery disease.
- Falls risk assessment and plan of care. Objective vestibular, sensory and orthostatic data rather than a recall-based questionnaire.
- Cognitive assessment. A structured instrument with a recorded baseline.
- Medication reconciliation. A complete medication and supplement list is required for the testing to be interpretable, so it happens anyway.
Why measurement beats attestation
A quality measure satisfied by a checkbox and a quality measure satisfied by a recorded instrument reading score the same and are not the same thing. The second is auditable, comparable year over year, and produces a number the patient can be shown. In a program that is moving toward outcome measurement, building the habit on measured data rather than on attestation is the durable choice.
HEDIS and value-based arrangements
Several of the same data elements feed HEDIS measure sets used by health plans — adult BMI assessment, diabetes care measures including blood pressure control, glycemic control and nephropathy testing, and fall risk management. How this maps onto HEDIS and value-based care.
For patients: the same subject written for the person having the assessment is at what to expect at an appointment.
Talk to someone about testing
Tell us what you are trying to find out and we will explain which Measura assessments answer that question, what each one involves, and how the results are reviewed with a clinician.
4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 201, St. Louis, MO 63134. Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please do not send symptoms, diagnoses or images through a web form — a website form is not a secure medical channel. Call us with clinical detail.
Common questions
Which specific MIPS measures does this satisfy?
Measure specifications change every performance year, so the honest answer is to map your own selected measure set against the domains above rather than to rely on a list published on a website. The domains this testing documents.
Does the data come across in a structured form?
That depends on how results are filed to the chart, which is worth designing deliberately. Getting results into the chart.
Is a standing order set enough evidence of an improvement activity?
A written order set plus documented application across the panel is the combination that demonstrates implementation. Standing orders.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP, medical director of Measura. Last reviewed .