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Every year, CMS updates the Merit-based Incentive Payment System. And practices that do not check what is new in MIPS before the reporting season starts tend to submit data with errors they did not see coming. Knowing what is new in MIPS for 2026 helps your practice submit clean data, avoid penalties, and understand your final score when it comes back.
Prime Well Med Solutions works as a MIPS reporting company that helps healthcare practices prepare accurate submissions and keep up with annual changes through services built around each practice’s specific situation.
How MIPS Scoring Works in 2026?
MIPS scores clinicians across four categories. Quality and Cost each carry 30 percent of the total score. Promoting Interoperability carries 25 percent, and Improvement Activities carries 15 percent. These weights are largely the same as 2025, but the content within each category has.
The performance threshold for 2026 stays at 75 points out of 100. Practices that score below 75 receive a negative payment adjustment on their Medicare reimbursements two years later. This is why reviewing what is new in MIPS each year before the performance year opens matters. Practices that score above the exceptional performance threshold receive a positive bonus adjustment. Practices sitting at 75 avoid a penalty but receive no bonus. MIPS healthcare reporting this year should be planned around these numbers from the start.
What Changed in Each MIPS Category for 2026?
The four categories are the same as prior years, but the measures, activities, and requirements within them have been updated. Here is what changed in each one.
1- Quality Measures Were Updated
The Quality category is one of the clearest places where what is new in MIPS shows up each year. CMS removed several quality measures from the 2026 list because nearly all clinicians were scoring at the top on them, which meant they were no longer measuring anything useful.
New measures were added to replace them. If your practice has been reporting on the same quality measures for two or three years, check the current list before selecting your 2026 measures. Submitting on a measure that was removed means that data will not count, and by the time you find out, the submission window may be closed.
2- Cost Category Added New Episode Measures
Here is what is new in MIPS on the cost side for 2026. CMS calculates the cost category using claims data, so practices do not submit anything directly for it. What changed in 2026 is that several new episode-based cost measures were added, covering specific procedures and conditions.
If your patients fall under one of those new episode measures, your cost score will include that data whether you prepared for it or not. Knowing which episode measures apply to your specialty before the performance year ends lets you understand your score when CMS sends it back. It also gives you time to address any data gaps before submission.
3- Promoting Interoperability Base Measures Were Adjusted
What is new in MIPS under Promoting Interoperability affects practices that have not reviewed their base measure submissions. Promoting Interoperability covers how well a practice uses certified electronic health record technology.
In 2026, CMS adjusted which base measures are required and changed how some bonus measures are weighted. Practices that are not reporting on the updated base measures will see their Promoting Interoperability score drop, which pulls down the total MIPS score by a noticeable amount. This is one of the more common errors sees in MIPS reporting, and it is one of the easier ones to fix if caught early.
4- Improvement Activities List Was Revised
What is new in MIPS for Improvement Activities this year includes both new additions and removed items. CMS added new Improvement Activities for 2026 focused on care coordination and health equity, and removed others that had low participation or overlapped with existing requirements.
Practices that copy their Improvement Activities selection from last year without checking the current list risk submitting activities that no longer qualify. Each activity also has a minimum duration requirement. Choosing activities that your practice is already doing is the straightforward way to meet that requirement without adding new workload.
What Is New in MIPS Through the MVP Pathway?
Merit-based Incentive Payment System Value Pathways, known as MIPS value pathway, give practices a different way to participate in reporting. Instead of picking from the full library of measures, an MVP groups together a focused set of quality measures, cost measures, and improvement activities built around a specific specialty or clinical area. CMS expanded the MVP program in 2026 and is pushing more practices to use this path.
For specialty practices, MVPs can simplify MIPS because the measures are already matched to what those clinicians do day to day. If your practice has not reviewed whether an MVP fits your specialty, that is worth doing before the 2026 performance year closes.
Prime Well Med Solutions can walk through the MVP options as part of its MIPS. We can review your specialty and volume to determine whether MVP participation makes sense for your reporting situation.
Errors That Cost Practices Points Every Year
Most MIPS score losses come from reporting mistakes, not from poor clinical performance. The same errors appear repeatedly across practices each year.
- Submitting Quality measures that were removed from the 2026 approved list
- Not checking which Cost episode measures apply to your patient population
- Failing to meet the minimum case count for a Quality measure to register
- Selecting Improvement Activities that no longer qualify under the 2026 rules
- Submitting Promoting Interoperability data that does not meet the updated base measure requirements
- Missing the submission deadline because no one tracked it until it was too late
How Prime Well Med Solutions Handles MIPS Reporting?
We provides MIPS consulting services that cover the full process from measure selection through submission. The team reviews what is new in MIPS each year and applies those changes to each client’s reporting plan so nothing gets submitted incorrectly.
MIPS reporting through us includes a review of what is new in MIPS for the current year, checking measure eligibility, verifying EHR data quality, selecting qualifying Improvement Activities, and submitting on time.
If what is new in MIPS for 2026 has you unsure about where your practice stands, our company is the MIPS reporting company that can walk through your situation and get your submission done correctly.
