Just before Thanksgiving, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a tool to automatically share electronic data for the Medicare Quality Payment Program. This new release is the first in a series that will be part of CMS’s ongoing efforts to spur the creation of innovative, customizable tools to reduce the burden for clinicians, while also supporting high-quality care for patients.
The Application Program Interface (API) builds on the Quality Payment Program website by making it easier for other organizations to retrieve and maintain the Quality Payment Program’s measures and enable them to build applications for clinicians and their practices. The API will allow developers to write software using the information described on the Explore Measures section of the Quality Payment Program website. To see the API Swagger documentation, click here.
In October, CMS unveiled the Quality Payment Program website, an interactive site to help you understand the program and successfully participate.
“An important part of the Quality Payment Program is to make it easier and less expensive to participate, so clinicians may focus on seeing patients,” said Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator of CMS. “This first release [of the API] is a step in that process, both for physicians and the technologists who support them.”
CMS is a rich source of information on MACRA and its Quality Payment Program. Here are a few helpful links:

MIPS-Related Fact Sheets:

Registries and Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDRs) Fact Sheets:

The AMA has a MACRA resource page with links to instructional podcasts. They also offer an interactive assessment tool to evaluate your practice under MACRA. Access that tool here.
The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) also is developing North Carolina specific resources for our members as well as offering speakers on MACRA and what it means to you. Contact Melanie Phelps for more information or to request a speaker.
Reminder: Public comments on the MACRA final rule are due Dec. 19. You may submit a comment electronically here.