ASCP Awarded $2.1 Million MACRA Measure Development Grant for NPQR

The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) has been awarded a $2.1 million grant by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop pathology-related quality measures that will be incorporated into ASCP’s National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR) for the CMS’ Quality Payment Program (QPP). ASCP is among seven awardees – and the only pathology or laboratory medicine organization – to receive cooperative agreement awards through the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Funding Opportunity: Measure Development for the Quality Payment Program.”

NPQR is a national quality and benchmarking program that aims to improve patient outcomes by helping laboratories assess and optimize their quality and performance. NPQR captures data that measure adherence to clinical practice guideline recommendations, quality and performance standards, and laboratory testing stewardship. The registry was granted Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) status for 2018 by the CMS, meaning pathologists and laboratories can utilize NPQR to fulfill 2018 quality reporting requirements as a part of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under the CMS’ QPP.

The CMS grant will facilitate ASCP’s efforts to demonstrate through NPQR that pathology is central to the value-based care movement that is a principal theme in medical practice. Through the grant, ASCP, in partnership with IMPAQ International, LLC, will continue to build a pathology-related QPP quality measure portfolio with an emphasis on clinical and patient perspectives and minimizing reporting burden for clinicians. ASCP will provide clinician and patient perspectives and needs related to quality measure development.

“This grant award demonstrates CMS' focus on providing meaningful measures for pathologists and will allow ASCP to advance a focused patient-centered quality initiative. We are so honored to receive this award to help us strengthen NPQR and improve pathology practice for our members and our patients,” said Ali Brown, MD, FASCP, Chief Officer, Medical Quality, ASCP.

The grant also helps the CMS to leverage the expertise and insight of those on the front lines to develop measures that make the most sense and contribute to building a truly value-based healthcare system.

The project described above was supported by Funding Opportunity Number CMS-331635-01-00 from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of its agencies.

To learn more about ASCP’s NPQR visit www.ascp.org/NPQR.