Matthew Nielsen, MD, MS, FACS, was recently appointed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Technical Expert Panel (TEP) charged to identify, analyze, and prioritize measurement gaps for the 2020 Quality Measure Development Plan (MDP) Annual Report. The MDP is mandated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The MDP serves as a strategic framework for clinician quality measure development to support the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs), known collectively as the Quality Payment Program (QPP). Statutory requirements of the MDP Annual Report include reports on progress made in developing meaningful measures for the QPP and operationalizing the strategic approaches for measure development outlined in the MDP.
The TEP will additionally provide input on the CMS Quality Measure Index, a tool to assess the relative value of quality measures based on key measure characteristics. In addition to his experience as a practicing urologic oncologist and health services researcher at UNC, Nielsen brings to this work expertise from his service as a member of the American College of Physicians’ Performance Measurement Committee and Chair of the American Urological Association’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Committee.