The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program was first implemented in 2017 to help identify where physicians are struggling and may require assistance. The program was designed by CMS to update and consolidate previous programs such as Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS,) Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBM,) and the Medicare Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program for Eligible Clinicians. As the only publicly available Physician Quality Dataset, MIPS provides performance-based adjustments (positive or negative) to participating clinicians.

Over the course of 2018 and 2019, MIPS reporting requirements, eligibility, and participation guidelines have continued to evolve. Currently performance in the program is measured in four areas—quality, improvement activities, promoting interoperability (formerly ACI – Advancing Care Information) and cost. These four areas make up a final score which determines a clinician’s payment adjustment.

The following list includes the top Physician Groups that received a perfect MIPS score ranked by highest Medicare payment. Of the groups appearing on the list, California has the highest frequency with four groups in the top 25. The specialty with the highest frequency of appearance was family practice with 11 occurrences followed by internal medicine with nine occurrences.