Bolingbrook, Ill., Aug. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ATI Physical Therapy, one of the largest national providers of physical therapy services in the U.S., exceeded the exceptional performance threshold (EPT) of 75 points for all its 950 clinics in the 2019 CSM Quality Payment Program (QPP). The QPP program is part of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which ATI Physical Therapy (ATI) voluntarily entered in order to support the development of national benchmarks for physical therapy services.
ATI partnered with OrthoQCDR to develop and report on several outcome-based performance measures accepted by the CMS QPP, but mainly relied on its own proprietary electronic medical record (EMR) and Patient Outcomes Registry across all patients – not selective to Medicare – to share the sophisticated patient outcomes reporting that helped it exceed the benchmarks of the program. ATI reported 50% value-based measures and, while CMS has not released information on physical therapy practice results, it’s expected that ATI’s data will lead the profession. Less than 8% of quality measures generally available for 2019 used patient-reported outcomes; 92% were fee-for-service measures. The CMS QPP is designed to tie healthcare payments to quality, drive improvement in care processes and health outcomes, increase the use of healthcare information and reduce the cost of healthcare.
The EPT score for physical therapy is based on quality measures like fall risk and functional improvement, weighted at 85%, and clinical practice improvement, weighted by 15%. ATI’s scores ranged from 79 to 100, on a scale of 1 to 100, with the average being 75, defined as an “exceptional performer”. The designation as exceptional performer by CMS allows ATI to earn a bonus on every CMS Medicare Part B payment collected in 2021; a minimum score of 75 for 2019 was required to qualify. ATI is also diligently working on similar programs and standards in the commercial group health plans space, aligning quality of care and reimbursements.
“ATI remains steadfastly focused on delivering excellent quality of care to our patients, partners and payers through our novel data and outcomes collection and reporting. It informs a higher level of clinical care and service in our clinics by producing benchmarks for treatment and rehab programs. We’re honored to be part of the QPP and MIPS programs by developing a national benchmark for healthcare excellence and reimbursement, as well as for the physical therapy industry,” says Joseph Zavalishin, ATI’s Chief Development Officer. “Aligning care and treatment results with reimbursement will help to address challenges in the U.S. healthcare system while remaining focused on our ultimate goal—quality care for patients.”
ATI’s fully HIPAA-compliant Patient Outcomes Registry leverages past patient outcomes to improve future treatments through the sharing of data and intelligence, as well as through collaboration with other scientists, research institutions and physicians. The Registry has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, listed in the Registry of Patient Registries, and has been vetted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
Through MIPS, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is required by law to implement a quality payment incentive program, referred to as the Quality Payment Program (QPP), which rewards value and outcomes in one of two ways: Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs). The CMS MIPS reporting for 2019 focused only on quality reporting and clinical practice improvement activities for physical therapy, eliminating interpretability and cost. MIPS participation is required beginning in 2020 for all eligible physical therapy providers.
About ATI Physical Therapy
At ATI Physical Therapy we are passionate about potential. Every day, we restore it in our patients and activate it our team members in our more than 850 locations across the U.S. With proven results from more than 2.5 million unique patient episodes, ATI is leading the industry by setting best practice standards that deliver predictable outcomes for our patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) issues. Designated as a Great Place to Work®, ATI’s offerings span the healthcare spectrum for MSK-related issues. From preventative services in the workplace and athletic training support to home health, outpatient clinical services and online physical therapy via ATI CONNECT™, a complete list of our service offerings can be found at ATIpt.com. ATI is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.