(a) Establishing a quality performance standard -
(1) Overall standard. The quality performance standard is the overall standard the ACO must meet in order to be eligible to receive shared savings for a performance year. An ACO will not qualify to share in savings in any year it fails to meet the quality performance standard.
(2) For the first performance year of an ACO's first agreement period under the Shared Savings Program. If the ACO reports data via the APP and meets the data completeness requirement at § 414.1340 of this subchapter and the case minimum requirement at § 414.1380 of this subchapter on the measures specified in this paragraph (a)(2) for the applicable performance year, the ACO will meet the quality performance standard.
(i) For performance years 2022, 2023, and 2024. The ten CMS Web Interface measures or the three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs, and the CAHPS for MIPS survey.
(ii) For performance year 2025 and subsequent performance years. The three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs and the CAHPS for MIPS survey.
(3) For performance year 2021.
(i) Except as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, CMS designates the quality performance standard as the ACO reporting quality data via the APP established under § 414.1367 of this subchapter, according to the method of submission established by CMS and achieving a quality performance score that is equivalent to or higher than the 30th percentile across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring.
(ii) If an ACO does not report any of the ten CMS Web Interface measures or any of the three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs and does not administer a CAHPS for MIPS survey under the APP, the ACO will not meet the quality performance standard.
(4) For performance years 2022 and 2023.
(i) Except as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, CMS designates the quality performance standard as the ACO reporting quality data via the APP established under § 414.1367 of this subchapter according to the method of submission established by CMS and either:
(A) Achieving a quality performance score that is equivalent to or higher than the 30th percentile across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring, or
(B) If the ACO reports the three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs in the APP measure set, meeting the data completeness requirement at § 414.1340 of this subchapter and the case minimum requirement at § 414.1380 of this subchapter for all three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs, achieving a quality performance score equivalent to or higher than the 10th percentile of the performance benchmark on at least one of the four outcome measures in the APP measure set and a quality performance score equivalent to or higher than the 30th percentile of the performance benchmark on at least one of the remaining five measures in the APP measure set.
(ii) If an ACO does not report any of the ten CMS Web Interface measures or any of the three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs and does not administer a CAHPS for MIPS survey under the APP, the ACO will not meet the quality performance standard.
(5) For performance year 2024 and subsequent performance years.
(i) Except as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, CMS designates the quality performance standard as the ACO reporting quality data via the APP established under § 414.1367 of this subchapter, according to the method of submission established by CMS and achieving a quality performance score that is equivalent to or higher than the 40th percentile across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring.
(ii) If an ACO does not report any of the three eCQMs/MIPS CQMs and does not administer a CAHPS for MIPS survey under the APP, the ACO will not meet the quality performance standard.
(b) Extreme and uncontrollable circumstances. For performance year 2021 and subsequent performance years, including the applicable quality data reporting period for the performance year, CMS uses an alternative approach to calculating the quality score for ACOs affected by extreme and uncontrollable circumstances instead of the methodology specified in paragraph (a) of this section as follows:
(1) CMS determines the ACO was affected by an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance based on either of the following:
(i) Twenty percent or more of the ACO's assigned beneficiaries reside in an area identified under the Quality Payment Program as being affected by an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance.
(A) Assignment is determined under subpart E of this part.
(B) In making this determination, CMS uses the quarter four list of assigned beneficiaries.
(ii) The ACO's legal entity is located in an area identified under the Quality Payment Program as being affected by an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance. An ACO's legal entity location is based on the address on file for the ACO in CMS' ACO application and management system.
(2) If CMS determines the ACO meets the requirements of paragraph (b)(1) of this section, CMS calculates the ACO's quality score as follows:
(i) For performance years 2021, 2022, and 2023, the ACO's minimum quality performance score is set to the equivalent of the 30th percentile MIPS Quality performance category score across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring, for the relevant performance year.
(ii) For performance year 2024 and subsequent performance years, the ACO's minimum quality performance score is set to the equivalent of the 40th percentile MIPS Quality performance category score across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring, for the relevant performance year.
(3) If the ACO reports quality data via the APP and meets data completeness and case minimum requirements:
(i) For performance years 2021, 2022, and 2023, CMS will use the higher of the ACO's quality performance score or the equivalent of the 30th percentile MIPS Quality performance category score across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring, for the relevant performance year.
(ii) For performance year 2024 and subsequent performance years, CMS will use the higher of the ACO's quality performance score or the equivalent of the 40th percentile MIPS Quality performance category score across all MIPS Quality performance category scores, excluding entities/providers eligible for facility-based scoring, for the relevant performance year.
(4) CMS applies determinations made under the Quality Payment Program with respect to -
(i) Whether an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance has occurred; and
(ii) The affected areas.
(5) CMS has sole discretion to determine the time period during which an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance occurred, the percentage of the ACO's assigned beneficiaries residing in the affected areas, and the location of the ACO legal entity.
[85 FR 85041, Dec. 28, 2020; 86 FR 65685, Nov. 19, 2021]