The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) announces that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry to collect and report quality measure data under the Merit-Based Payment System (MIPS) for 2018.

The Registry was first approved as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry in 2017, per the APTA release.

Registry clients who voluntarily participate in MIPS can submit their data to CMS directly from the Registry. This is particularly helpful for practices whose EHRs are not set up to submit MIPS quality data. As early as 2019, physical therapist participation in MIPS will be mandatory.

“As a qualified clinical data registry, the Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry aligns with APTA’s commitment to demonstrating outcomes to advance quality and payment,” says APTA President Sharon Dunn, PT, PhD, in the release. “The Registry will help us elevate the care we provide our patients, better understand our value, and define our future, both as individual physical therapists and as a profession.”

“The Registry goes beyond MIPS data submission. Registry data will allow physical therapists (PTs) to understand their treatment patterns, interventions, and outcomes for specific patient populations. In everyday practice, PTs then use the information objectively to evaluate how a patient, a group of patients, or a population of patients are cared for,” adds Heather Smith, PT, MPH, director of quality for APTA.

The information collected and reported is recognized by other health care providers and the public, enabling the profession to communicate areas of success. The information is consistently evaluated and validated through a peer-review process to ensure transparency and acceptability.

The Physical Therapy Outcomes Registry directly integrates with multiple third-party electronic health record (EHR) systems to seamlessly and securely transfer data to a database of patient episodes. The database will provide profession-wide benchmarking and inform future clinical and health services research.

[Source: American Physical Therapy Association]