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If you are MIPS-eligible and you experienced extreme and uncontrollable hardships this year that have impacted your ability to record and/or report MIPS, this is your last chance to apply for 2024 MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Hardship Exception to avoid the 2026 Medicare payment reduction. The final application deadline is 8 p.m. ET on December 31, but waiting until the last minute is not advised. If you have any questions about this or anything else with MIPS, send an email to mips@apma.org.
Providers impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack as well as those affected by Hurricanes Milton, Helene, and Francine may be eligible for hardship exception from MIPS participation in 2024.
APMA and others requested that CMS allow providers impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack to apply for a hardship exception from MIPS participation in 2024. This request has been granted!
MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances (EUC) are events “outside of a provider’s control” that prevent the provider “from collecting MIPS data for an extended period of time." The 2024 MIPS EUC application has been released and allows providers to request an exception from having to perform one or more MIPS performance categories, including all of them.?
If the Change Healthcare cyberattack negatively impacted your ability to participate in MIPS in 2024 by preventing you “from collecting MIPS data for an extended period of time,” you may consider completing this application and choosing “Ransom/Malware” as the “Event Type,” and confirming in the application that the ransom/malware event pertained to the Change Healthcare cyberattack.
CMS is applying an automatic 2024 MIPS exception to certain MIPS-eligible clinicians in certain counties of Florida following Hurricane Milton. The full list of these Florida counties can be reviewed here.
Additionally, CMS is applying an automatic 2024 MIPS exception to certain MIPS eligible clinicians in certain counties of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana following Hurricanes Helene and Francine. The long list of these counties can be found on the FEMA website or by clicking on the state name in the preceding sentence.
MIPS eligible clinicians in these counties who report as individuals will be automatically identified and have all four MIPS performance categories reweighted to 0 percent for the 2024 performance year unless they submit data on two or more performance categories. Those who do submit data on two or more performance categories will be scored on those performance categories, will not receive the automatic exception, and will receive a 2026 MIPS payment adjustment based on their 2024 MIPS final score. When the 2024 automatic exception is applied, a provider will not receive a penalty or a bonus for the 2026 MIPS payment year.
More information on MIPS exceptions can be found here.