§ 414.1315 Virtual groups.

(a) Eligibility. (1) For a MIPS payment year, a solo practitioner or a group of 10 or fewer eligible clinicians may elect to participate in MIPS as a virtual group with at least one other such solo practitioner or group. The election must be made prior to the start of the applicable performance period and cannot be changed during the performance period. A solo practitioner or group may elect to be in no more than one virtual group for a performance period, and, in the case of a group, the election applies to all MIPS eligible clinicians in the group.

(2) Except as provided under § 414.1370(f)(2), each MIPS eligible clinician in the virtual group receives a MIPS payment adjustment factor and, if applicable, an additional MIPS payment adjustment factor based on the virtual group's combined performance assessment.

(b) Election deadline. The election deadline is December 31 of the calendar year preceding the applicable performance period.

(c) Election process. For the 2020 MIPS payment year and future years, the virtual group election process is as follows:

(1) Stage 1: Virtual group eligibility determination. (i) For the 2020 MIPS payment year, the virtual group eligibility determination period is an assessment period of up to 5 months beginning on July 1 and ending as late as November 30 of the calendar year preceding the applicable performance period, and that includes a 30-day claims run out.