CMS to pay providers via MIPS for participating in COVID-19 drug treatment trials

Clinicians can earn a credit via the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) if they participate in a clinical trial and report clinical information on COVID-19, the Trump administration announced late Monday. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said Monday that the goal of the new credit is to provide data that will be vital to making treatments to combat the virus. “The best scientific and medical minds in the world are working night and day to find treatments to combat coronavirus,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement Monday. “But without solid data, their efforts are liable to run against a brick wall.”