Chairman Roskam, Ranking Member Levin, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to provide feedback on implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization
Act of 2015 (MACRA).
The Alliance of Specialty Medicine (“Alliance”) is a coalition of medical specialty societies representing
more than 100,000 physicians and surgeons from specialty and subspecialty societies dedicated to the
development of sound federal health care policy that fosters patient access to the highest quality specialty
care. As patient and physician advocates, the Alliance welcomes the opportunity to provide input in the
formulation of health and Medicare policy.
Today’s hearing is an important step to ensuring the Congressional intent of MACRA in providing flexible
options for clinicians to meaningfully engage in the program. The Alliance has worked closely with
policymakers and CMS to ensure that implementation of the law is consistent with Congress’ intent. For
this reason, we greatly appreciate that Congress included “technical corrections,” as part of the February
9, 2018 Continuing Resolution (CR). Not only will these adjustments strengthen the law and continue
progress made to date, it will significantly improve the ability of physicians, particularly specialists, to
engage in quality improvement activities, and specifically in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System
(MIPS) track of MACRA.
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