By Stephanie Zaremba  | February 3, 2017

A recap of the past two weeks of health policy news could be boiled down accordingly: ACA, ACA; does anyone have an ACA replacement plan?; ACA; Health and Human Services Secretary confirmation hearings; but seriously, what is happening with the ACA?

So you'd be forgiven if, while following the constant news updates, you forgot that 2017 brought not just a new president but also a new physician performance program: MACRA. In fact, in a live poll conducted during an athenahealth webinar about the ACA last month, a third of the more than 250 participants said they hadn't even heard of MACRA.

For the unacquainted, MACRA is the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. It is a significant law designed to reform the way Medicare pays physicians (though hospital inpatient payment is not impacted).

It creates a new Quality Payment Program, or QPP, by consolidating existing Medicare pay-for-performance programs: Meaningful Use, the Physician Quality Reporting System, and the Value-Based Modifier program. And it pushes clinicians toward participation in alternative payment models like accountable care organizations.