2022 Merit-based Incentive Payment System

The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is the default Quality Payment Program participation pathway for most surgeons. MIPS is composed of four performance categories, which contribute a specified weight to the overall MIPS final score:

• Quality
• Cost
• Improvement Activities
• Promoting Interoperability

• In 2022, surgeons will have to score a total of at least 75 overall MIPS points to avoid a payment penalty.
• MIPS participants who exceed the separate exceptional performance threshold, which has been set at 89 points for 2022, are eligible for an additional positive payment adjustment from a separate pool of funding. However, 2022 is the last performance year that funding will be available for exceptional performance bonuses. This is an important point since the exceptional performance pool of funding has made up the bulk of positive payment adjustments received by clinicians to date.
• The payment adjustment allotted for the 2024 payment year, which is based on 2022 MIPS performance, is +/- 9 percent. Surgeons can receive positive, neutral, or negative payment adjustments based on their MIPS final score. If a surgeon is required to report MIPS in 2022 and chooses not to, they would receive the full -9 percent Medicare payment adjustment in 2024.
• Each MIPS performance category contributes a specified weight to the MIPS final score. In 2022, and as required under MACRA, the Quality category weight decreased 10 percent and the Cost category weight increased 10 percent. See all four category weights below:
• Quality: 30 percent
• Cost: 30 percent
• Improvement Activities: 15 percent
• Promoting Interoperability: 25 percent

Surgeons seeking assistance in planning for 2022 QPP and MIPS participation should e-mail qualityDC@facs.org.