HiQ Adds Platinum Tier to MIPS Essentials^TM Service

HiQ is pleased to announce a new Platinum tier of service for its market-leading MIPS Essentials^TMservice. MIPS Essentials^TM helps ambulatory practices maximize revenue with expert MIPS optimization, and all tier of MIPS Essentials^TM include MIPS reporting assistance as well as MIPS audit assistance.

With the Platinum tier of service, the HiQ Senior MIPS Specialist assigned to the practice leads the annual project for the practice’s MIPS performance and reporting, and drives transformative change in the practice using the HiQ Quality System. The MIPS Specialist schedules weekly “touchpoint” meetings and performs daily follow-up, so as to minimize resource burden on the practice.

This goes well beyond our Gold and Silver tiers of service, which provide monthly touchpoint meetings and follow-up as needed to work with a resource within the practice on an ongoing basis, helping to solve problems related to the practice’s annual MIPS performance. For further comparison, our Bronze tier of service includes quarterly touchpoint meetings during the MIPS performance year to provide expert information to the practice’s MIPS project lead.

The Platinum tier of service is further distinguished by bundling the following additional service elements:

• The Eagle Associates managed regulatory compliance service, which provides a complete solution for the practice for HIPAA, OSHA and OIG compliance, with an Eagle regulatory specialist assigned to the practice providing additional monthly touchpoints. This service includes compliance policy manuals, web-based compliance training for all practice staff, an annual Security Risk Analysis and an annual Technical Network Assessment. Regulatory compliance represents the foundational Level 1 of the HiQ Quality Maturity Model, and it is essential for MIPS performance that these elements are in place.
• A HiQ QMM Assessment, which is a systematic 3-day process performed by a qualified auditor typically performed onsite, to assess the organization’s current policies, practices and risks with regards to regulatory compliance, CEHRT & interoperability conformance, and quality improvement processes. The assessment determines the practice’s current Quality Maturity Level (0 to 3), and makes recommendations for process improvements possibly targeting a higher maturity level for the following year. The assessment is used as an input by the MIPS Specialist to implement the agreed on process improvements.
• The HiQ CEHRT & Interoperability Policy Manual for Healthcare Providers and HiQ Improvement Policy Manual for Value-Based Care are licensed to the practice, which may use them with the active guidance of the assigned MIPS Specialist, so as to optimize MIPS performance, manage risks and realize transformative change within the practice. For the Platinum level of service, the HiQ MIPS Specialist will perform the roles of CEHRT Compliance Manager and Quality Improvement Team Lead, assuming those policies are adopted by the practice.
• An annual HiQ Patient Experience Survey, which not only helps satisfy requirements for certain MIPS Improvement Activities but is also an essential element for the structured quality improvement methodology corresponding to Level 3 of the HiQ QMM. This survey will help the practice measure quality in the ISO 9001:2015 sense of satisfying customer requirements – with the primary customer in healthcare being the patient.

For comparison, the Gold tier of service features some elements of the Platinum tier, by bundling the following additional service elements relative to Silver tier:

• The Eagle Associates HIPAA compliance system, an annual Security Risk Analysis and an annual Technical Network Assessment. HIPAA compliance is not a managed service in this case and requires the practice to implement the HIPAA policies, train its staff and document compliance with support from Eagle Associates as needed; however, the Security Risk Analysis is performed annually by Eagle Associates and the Technical Network Assessment annually by SJA Solutions (another HiQ partner).
• The HiQ CEHRT & Interoperability Policy Manual for Healthcare Providers and HiQ Improvement Policy Manual for Value-Based Care are licensed to the practice; the HiQ MIPS Specialist will guide the practice as to these policies, however the HiQ MIPS Specialist will not perform the roles of CEHRT Compliance Manager and Quality Improvement Team Lead as defined in those policies, requiring resources within the practice to be assigned in case those policies are adopted by the practice.
• The HiQ Patient Experience Survey, like for the Platinum tier of service.

Beyond MIPS Essentials^TM, HiQ also offers the VBC² service (Value-Based Consulting for Value-Based Care), which is intended for enterprise healthcare organizations which may have other value-based care requirements beyond MIPS. The process starts with a HiQ QMM Assessment similar to MIPS Essentials^TM Platinum, but with the full HiQ QMM which currently consists of 5 levels and includes the organization’s adoption of an industry standard Quality Management System (QMS), such as ISO 9001:2015. For the VBC² service, a customized Statement of Work is created based on the QMM assessment and mutually agreed-on, measurable performance goals for the organization; the pricing is structured so as to minimize up-front costs for the organization (but allowing HiQ to operate), with contingency fees paid later if the performance goals were met.