Developing standards for healthcare is nothing new — in fact, you could say the concept of identifying quality measures started in the early 17th century, when a Hungarian Doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, championed handwashing in his clinic.

On Halloween, as I was waiting for MACRA's Quality Payment Program (QPP) Year 2 ruling to be finalized, I was pondering tricks and treats. Would practices find a full sized candy bar when the door opened or a toothbrush? As trick-or-treaters often find, the ruling was a little of both. For me, the trick is a ruling that came in at a hefty 1,653 pages: the treat, the 20+ page fact sheet and executive summary.

For most people, summertime means backyard barbecues, ball games, and vacations. But for those of us in health IT, it also means reviewing the proposed 2018 Quality Payment Program Year 2 changes under MACRA. The proposed ruling was released on June 20th, and coming in at 1,058 pages it makes for a seriously long beach read.

Over the past several years, healthcare organizations have been tasked with taking on more and more regulatory standards. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is just one of the many regulations that the industry is still trying to adjust to. A recent survey found that 64 percent of respondents from provider organizations reported being either unprepared or very unprepared for managing and executing MACRA initiatives. So what exactly is MACRA?