I work in a single-specialty group with a total of 18 rheumatologists. Our practice has been a part of the RISE registry since 2014. The RISE dashboard provides a useful resource to track clinically relevant information related specifically to rheumatic disease outcomes and disease monitoring.
With the information provided in the dashboard, I am able to track my personal performance in specific measures and compare it with previous years, review the data for my practice as a group, and compare our performance to the registry average, which includes data from all other users.
How can this information translate into improved patient care? Reviewing previous performance allows me personally, and as part of a group, to identify areas with opportunities for improvement. Using rheumatoid arthritis as an example, some of the clinically significant measures reported in RISE that are relevant to the care of my patients with rheumatoid arthritis include:
- Documentation of periodic assessments of disease activity measures;
- Tuberculosis screening prior to biologic utilization;
- Vaccination status; and
- Osteoporosis screening.
Comparing my performance individually, and as a group, to other registry users is a valuable tool that can be used in a busy practice to detect deficiencies and implement changes to improve patient outcomes and safety.
RISE Measures & More
RISE offers rheumatology-specific measures for clinicians to gain a deeper understanding of the quality of care provided to their patients. The dashboard distills complex information into easily understandable data points, which show areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. As an added benefit, RISE is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant and a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR). Rheumatology health providers can submit data for the Quality Payment Program (QPP), directly reporting quality of care data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It allows rheumatology health providers to participate in QPP via the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) pathway; the program determines each clinician’s CMS reimbursement (positive, neutral or negative) for a calendar year.
RISE allows users to submit for three MIPS categories: Quality, Promoting Interoperability and Improvement Activities. The fourth category, Cost, is calculated by CMS and no data submission is required. Participants may choose to submit to MIPS as a group or individually. RISE users benefit from expert knowledge offered by ACR registry staff and the technical vendor for RISE, FIGmd, regarding MIPS reporting requirements, bonus points for submitting via a QCDR and assistance through the reporting process.
Currently, RISE collects data from more than 1,000 providers from (mostly) community practices of all sizes across the U.S. Participation in RISE is a benefit of ACR and ARP membership; there is no cost to members. Practices typically spend 10–15 hours over the course of six to eight weeks on the implementation process (see Figure 1); time can vary depending on the practice’s EHR. Participants will work with both ACR and FIGmd throughout the process.
