Posted: February 8, 2018
The CSRO is pleased to announce that its nominee, Kent “Kwas” Huston, MD, from the Kansas City Physicians Partners, has been selected to serve on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Technical Expert Panel (TEP). Dr. Huston and other TEP’s will be tasked with developing and updating the CMS Quality Measure Development Plan: Supporting the Transition to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APMs).
Dr. Huston was nominated by Michael Schweitz, MD, CSRO National Advocacy Chair, on behalf of CSRO in light of his work with CMS program officers to improve its Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs) under the predecessor Value-Based Payment Modifier Program and current efforts to develop APMs using quality measures approved for use in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System MIPS.
According to CMS, a TEP is a group of stakeholders and experts who contribute direction and thoughtful input to the measure developer in every phase of the measure development process, from conceptualization through maintenance. While serving on this TEP, Dr. Huston will contribute direction and thoughtful input as a frontline rheumatologist on the annual progress reports and updates of the Measure Development Plan (MDP) required under MACRA.
The CSRO believes that Dr. Huston has the right mix of expertise to assist the agency and its contractors with updating the MDP, and will work diligently to balance the goals of improving patient care and outcomes with that of reducing administrative hassle, mirroring the CMS “Patients Over Paperwork” initiatives. We wish to thank CMS for making this important selection, and look forward to Dr. Huston’s contributions.
