For practices participating in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the CMS feedback report can feel like a cryptic scorecard — full of numbers, benchmarks, and acronyms. But here’s the truth: it’s not just a retrospective look. It’s a strategic tool. When used correctly, your 2024 feedback report can provide powerful insight to guide smarter decisions for 2025. Let’s break it down and explore how to read between the lines of your CMS feedback — and turn it into better performance and reimbursement next year.

What Is the CMS Feedback Report? Each summer, CMS releases feedback reports to all MIPS-participating providers. These reports summarize your performance from the previous year — in this case, 2024 — and outline the payment adjustment you’ll receive in 2026 as a result.

Your feedback report includes:

• Your overall MIPS final score (0–100 scale)
• Category-level performance: Quality, Cost, Promoting Interoperability, and Improvement Activities
• Benchmark comparisons
• Bonus points or penalties applied
• Your final payment adjustment for the performance year

The goal? To give you a transparent picture of how CMS evaluated your data — and where you could improve.

Why It Matters for 2025 Knowing what to look for can make or break your improvement strategies. Focus on these key areas:

1. Final Score Breakdown Start by reviewing your total score out of 100. Did you meet or exceed the performance threshold? Then look at how that score was calculated:

• Quality: Was your data complete? Did your selected measures perform well?
• Cost: Were there high-cost outliers driving your score down?
• Promoting Interoperability: Were all required measures submitted and properly attested?
• Improvement Activities: Did you get full credit for your selected activities?

2. Benchmark Comparisons CMS benchmarks vary from year to year and are based on national performance. If your scores are hovering at the lower end of a decile, you may be at risk of falling behind next year if benchmarks shift. Identify:

• Measures scoring below average
• Opportunities to switch to higher-performing measures

3. Bonus Points and Penalties Take note of any bonuses you received (for complex patients or end-to-end electronic reporting), as well as penalties for missing data or noncompliance. These can significantly affect your final score.

Turning Feedback into a 2025 Action Plan Now that you’ve reviewed the report — what next? Your goal should be to use this information to your advantage in 2025. You can do so by evaluating your weakest category, revisiting your measure selection, reviewing your documentation habits, setting up quarterly review checkpoints, and staying current on 2025 rule changes. To better understand where to start, consider the following:

• Did Cost or Interoperability drag your score down? Make a plan to focus on improvement there first.
• Measures that performed poorly or didn’t align with your workflow should be reconsidered. Select options that are achievable, relevant, and benchmark-friendly.
• Were any points lost due to incomplete or missing data? Ensure staff understands how to record encounters and document activity in real time.
• Don’t wait until year-end to check performance. Use your 2024 report as a baseline and monitor progress each quarter in 2025.
• CMS may update scoring methods, category weights, and measure availability. Adapt your strategy as needed.

CMS feedback reports aren’t just compliance paperwork — they’re performance roadmaps. By reviewing your 2024 feedback now, your practice can avoid repeating past mistakes, refine your 2025 strategy, and set yourself up for stronger outcomes and reimbursement in the years to come.

Looking for a CMS-Qualified Registry? Quantician helps you decode your feedback, refine your measure strategy, and simplify year-round MIPS reporting. Want to see how your 2024 report can work for you? Schedule a consultation today.