[February 21, 2017]

Altarum Institute Chosen to Provide Support for Small Practices in CMS Quality Payment Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded a contract to Altarum Institute to help small practices in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Minnesota prepare for and participate in the new Quality Payment Program, established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

This technical assistance, authorized and funded under MACRA, brings direct support to thousands of Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians in small practices with 15 or fewer clinicians, including small practices in rural locations, health professional shortage areas, and medically underserved areas across the country. The direct technical assistance is available immediately, free to all MIPS eligible clinicians, and will deliver support for up to a five-year period.

"For years, Altarum has successfully used its model of delivering technical assistance to physicians to help them achieve practice transformation and improvements in quality," said Dan Armijo, Altarum vice-president and director of Health Innovations. "We are honored and excited to leverage this expertise to advance this critical support program that will give physicians the tools to deliver better care, leading to improved population health."

Altarum, along with its partners, which include Medical Advantage Group, MetaStar, Michigan Center for Rural Healh, MPRO, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, Purdue University (News - Alert), Stratis Health, and University of Kentucky, is dedicated to providing innovative technical assistance to clinician practices in rural, Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA), and underserved areas.

Altarum and its partners will provide customized technical assistance to MIPS-eligible clinicians across seven states as a part of the Small, Underserved, and Rural Support (SURS) program, which may include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Conveying the MIPS expectations and timelines,
• Explaining the MIPS feedback report,
• Creating a MIPS-score improvement plan,
• Evaluating practice readiness for joining an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM (News - Alert)),
• Assessing and optimizing Health Information Technology,
• Supporting change management and strategic planning,
• Developing and disseminating education and training materials, and
• Enabling peer-to-peer learning and local partnerships.

Altarum can be contacted through Francois de Brantes: 734-205-6102, [email protected].

For more information on the Quality Payment Program, visit qpp.cms.gov or contact the Quality Payment Program by calling 1-866-288-8292 or emailing [email protected].

Altarum Institute (www.altarum.org) integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. Altarum employs over 450 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with additional offices in Portland, Maine, and the Washington, D.C., area.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170221006474/en/

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