Rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals must earn a certain number of continuing medical education (CME) units and maintenance of certification (MOC) points annually to maintain their medical licenses and board certifications. To assist this process, the ACR’s Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry now offers an online performance improvement activity through which registry users can earn up to 20 CME credits and 20 MOC points.
The 2020 RISE Practice Improvement Activity uses evidence-based performance measures to help providers identify ways to improve patient care. It is the first performance improvement activity created by the ACR in more than five years.
The activity is open only to current RISE registry users. Providers can assess their quality performance by selecting measures they would like to improve and identify relevant practice changes. After implementing changes in their practice for 90 consecutive days, they can reassess quality measure performance to see if and how their performance changed. Providers will be asked to reflect on their updated measure performances and summarize practice and process changes, as well as any outcomes of these changes.
“Theoretically, practices that contribute data to RISE are already assessing their performance through the RISE dashboard. Now, they have the option to earn CME credits and MOC points for something they’re already doing,” says Lindsey Hunter, a registry operations specialist and member of the team that developed the activity. “We want to encourage providers to evaluate where they can improve and implement interventions to improve their performance and overall patient care.”
Improving Care with RISE
The RISE registry, available to all ACR/ARP members, is a qualified clinical data registry created to assist rheumatologists with the significant challenges of a rapidly changing healthcare environment. It helps guide patient care, serves as a platform for Quality Payment Program Merit-Based Incentive Payment System reporting and fosters research discoveries. Electronic health record data automatically upload into the registry, allowing RISE users to easily track their quality against both the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services benchmark and all RISE registry users.
“We are excited to offer this CME/MOC activity to RISE users,” Ms. Hunter says. “The registry staff are always looking for ways to increase the benefit of RISE, and we encourage users to let us know what their needs are and how we can help.”
The 2020 RISE Practice Improvement Activity is available through the RISE platform. If you are not a current RISE registry user, contact the ACR at [email protected] to learn how to participate. The last day providers can begin implementing changes in their practice to earn CME/MOC points is Oct. 1, 2020.