Promoting Interoperability with Specialty-Specific Registry Integration
As the adoption of interoperability standards increases, demand for EHR integrations with Qualified Clinical Data Registries, or QCDRs, is growing alongside it.
These registries serve as helpful intermediaries for MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) reporting, as they can submit relevant, data called QCDR measures across all payers, not just Medicare patient data.
Beyond the practical advantage of avoiding fines through quality MIPS reporting, QCDRs are immensely useful tools for providers looking to both contribute to and draw from the most up-to-date, specialty-specific knowledge base. Clinicians and researchers consulting these registries will find a largely representative source of patient data that can help with clinical decision support and other ways to improve care.
PINNACLE, the largest cardiology outpatient quality improvement registry, not only tracks and reports on care improvements, but it also makes this data accessible to providers and researchers, advancing care even further. A 2020 study on PINNACLE found that between 2013 to 2017, ambulatory care processes and medication rates associated with several conditions such as heart failure and coronary heart disease improved
Pairing an EMR with an integration that promotes interoperability through QCDRs and MIPS reporting benefits providers in both the short and long term. John Waterman of FIGmd, a platform that works with 25 specialty registries for QCDR and MIPS reporting, points to the American College of Rheumatology’s RISE registry as a good example of what providers look for.
“Most providers are looking to report data that is pertinent to their field of practice, and the various partners that FIGmd works with have their own unique copywritten measures that are only available through the registry,” said Waterman.
“For example, ACR RISE has measures that they constructed and can report to CMS for Rheumatology data that no other registry or data submitter can use.”
Notably, RISE is also an electronic health records-enabled, HIPAA compliant registry. This makes it simpler for practices to submit data to their relevant QCDR while also providing the peace of mind that the data will be securely transferred.
FIGmd provides EHR systems with access to their partner registries through their ELIXIR program, and the platform works in tandem with practice management software to collect structured and unstructured data to push securely to the registry.
Through partner integrations like DrChrono and FIGmd, providers can expect improved data access and frequent data transfers. Moreover, the platform and DrChrono use a standard data model across all DrChrono sites, reducing the burden on office IT staff as they won’t have to build out interfaces or databases.
“Our practice-facing staff is continually trained on MIPS and the registry-specific measure changes so that they can provide detailed insight on the data and also help the practice work towards their MIPS reporting goals,” Waterman said.
Find out more about integrating FIGmd into DrChrono EHR here.