Reliability of measuring surgeon spending for MIPS

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should measure surgeon spending at a group level or incorporate multiple years of data to reduce misclassification of surgeon performance in its Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program, this study finds.

University of Michigan researchers found that annual cost-profiles of individual surgeons had poor reliability in distinguishing them from their peers. They also found that few surgeons in the state of Michigan have sufficient case-volume to be reliably compared with their peers.

The reliability of the cost-profiles can be improved by measuring spending at the hospital-level or by incorporating additional years of data, the researchers say.