VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
- The Honorable John Joyce, M.D.
Co-Chair
GOP Doctors Caucus
U.S. House of Representatives
2102 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Gregory F. Murphy, M.D.
GOP Doctors Caucus
U.S. House of Representatives
407 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Kim Schrier, M.D.
Chair
Democratic Doctors Caucus
United States House of Representatives
1110 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Physician Clinical Registry Coalition’s Comments on Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 Modernization
Dear Chairs Joyce, Murphy, and Schrier and Members of the GOP and Democratic Doctors Caucuses:
The undersigned members of the Physician Clinical Registry Coalition (“Coalition”) appreciate the opportunity to provide comments on the Request for Information (“RFI”) on modernizing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (“MACRA”). The Coalition is a group of medical society-sponsored clinical data registries that collect and analyze clinical outcomes data to identify best practices and improve patient care. We are committed to advocating for policies that encourage and enable the development of clinical data registries and enhance their ability to improve quality of care through the analysis and reporting of clinical outcomes.
As Congress considers the development of a new quality reporting and performance program, we respectfully urge Congress to expressly preserve and strengthen the role of clinician-led clinical data registries as foundational infrastructure for quality measurement, improvement, and value-based payment. Clinical data registries are organized data collection and analysis systems operated by or affiliated with a national medical society, hospital association, or other health care association. These registries collect and analyze data on specified outcomes submitted by physicians, hospitals, and other types of health care providers related to a wide variety of medical procedures, diagnostic tests, and/or clinical conditions. They perform data aggregationand related benchmarking analyses that support one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes, including, but not limited to, describing the natural history of disease, determining the effectiveness (including the comparative effectiveness) of therapeutic modalities, and measuring quality of care. Because registries are built on detailed clinical data, including patient-reported outcomes, they are among the most important sources of real-world evidence in the healthcare system. The measures developed by registries are clinically meaningful to providers and their patient populations. They capture important information that is not available from claims data alone.1
Click here to view the full Physician Clinical Registry Coalition Calls for Congress to Strengthen Clinical Data Registries in Medicare Reform
