CHICAGO—Whether it’s MIPS, MVP (not the sports designation), QPP or another acronym, keeping track of quality measures for federal reporting purposes can get confusing. Yet there’s real value in understanding the different measures that rheumatology practices can track to improve care for your patients.
That’s what panelists discussed during the ACR Convergence 2025 session MIPS and MVPs: What Clinicians Need to Know for 2026 and Beyond. Four panelists shared their unique perspective on MIPs, MVPs and the ACR RISE registry.
Understanding MIPS, MVPs & More
A basic understanding of the various government quality programs and acronyms makes it easier to put them in today’s context. Beth Radtke, MS, director of registry operations for the RISE Registry at the ACR, provided a brief rundown, noting the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was enacted in 2015 to move payments from a fee-for-service to a value-based model.
That led to the creation of QPP, or the CMS Quality Payment Program, which rewards physicians for participation through either a Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or an Alternative Payment Model (APM).
Physicians in MIPS are scored on quality, cost, promoting interoperability and improvement activities. Each area has a different numeric weight that has changed through the years, but they all equal 100 overall.
Clinicians take part in an APM if they are part of an accountable care organization (ACO) or a bundled payment model, Ms. Radtke said.
In 2023, CMS added MVPs (or MIPS Value Pathway) under the QPP to streamline reporting and make it more relevant to certain specialties, reduce the reporting burden and improve alignment with clinical practice, Ms. Radtke said. “Each MVP is tailored to a specialty to make QPPs more meaningful,” she explained.
Eventually, CMS will phase out traditional MIPS in favor of MVPs, the latter of which is currently voluntary. Practices also can report both MIPS and MVPs right now, and CMS will use a practice’s highest numbers for payment.
Three measures within the ACR’s RISE data registry are part of MVPs: disease activity for psoriatic arthritis, serum urate target for gout, and safe hydroxychloroquine dosing. Although only a small number of physicians reported MVPs in 2023, many rheumatologists were early adopters, Ms. Radtke said.
RISE continues to grow as a conduit for MIPS and MVP reporting. RISE currently consists of more than 190 practices, 1,019 active clinicians and 3.7 million active patients.
