When the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) legislation passed in April 2015, everyone cheered the repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for Medicare physician payment. Now, even before the MACRA regulations are even promulgated, it's time to pay attention because Medicare physician payments in 2019 will be impacted by their performance in 2017, just a year from now.

Initially, the Value-based Payment Modifier (VBPM) methodology will impact Medicare physician payment starting in 2017 based on quality performance in 2015. The VBPM is expected to be rolled into MACRA starting in 2019, when Medicare physicians will be paid based on the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or the Alternative Payment Models (APMs) program. These new programs are explicitly designed to help meet CMS's goal to significantly accelerate the transition to value-based payment from the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) system.

Listen to the replay of this presentation, hosted by Karen Handmaker, MPP, VP Population Health Strategies, IBM Watson Health and presented by Dr. Laura Langmade, Clinical Informatics Analyst, IBM Watson Health. The learning objectives for this webinar are:

1. Understand the current VBPM and MACRA Medicare physician payment programs.
2. Learn what you can do today to get ready.
3. Hear about how IBM Watson Health can support you and your organizations succeed.