A Welcome Message from the AQUA Registry

We are pleased to present the first AQUA Registry newsletter, AQUANews. The goal of AQUANews is to keep you informed of Registry-related news and events, government policy updates, improvements of user experience, helpful tips, and training opportunities. We will highlight the approaches you can utilize for improving patient care within your practice. If there are any topics you would like to have included in future editions, please email us at AQUA@auanet.org.

Launched in 2014, the AQUA Registry is a national clinical data registry, designed by urologists for urologists, that monitors, tracks and reports performance in urologic care, at both provider and practice levels. As of the end of 2018, there were approximately 1,900 providers actively participating in the Registry across the nation. Please refer to the table below to review a detailed description.

Utilization of AQUA Registry Data

Besides generating your performance measure scores and national benchmark, the real-world data collected through the AQUA Registry will be used to build sophisticated, user-friendly tools to view your practice data from different angles. AQUA data can also be used to help document treatment journey and patterns of your own patients and compare them with the rest of the Registry, with a goal to gradually establish possible associations between treatment options and outcomes.

Since the inception of the Registry, AUA has generated measures that cover more than 10 urologic areas such as prostate cancer, bladder cancer, BPH, urinary stones, testosterone replacement therapy and more.

The AQUA Registry collects high-quality patient data that will generate real-world evidence through data analytics and comparative effectiveness research, and ultimately help advance the science of urology.

The AQUA Registry staff and physician advisers thank you for your participation in the AQUA Registry, a home for the urologic care providers who are interested and engaged in improvement of patient care. Please feel free to contact us if you have ideas for future measure development, suggestions on how we can help you gain top ranking with insurance companies in your area, or ways you feel the Registry can help streamline training requirements. Your feedback will help us expand the AQUA Registry to fit your specific needs.

A Review of 2018 MIPS Reporting Through the AQUA Registry

The AQUA Registry is a “one-stop shop” for urologic care providers to satisfy Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP) requirements for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Participation in the AQUA Registry, at the Elite level, allows practices to report on quality measures and attest for the Promoting Interoperability (PI) and Improvement Activities (IA) categories.

CMS has approved the AQUA Registry to report on behalf of its participants as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for the past three years. AQUA Registry providers reported on 6 out of over 50 measures, which include both standard QPP and Non-QPP, urology-specific measures.

Record Data Accuracy Achieved by the AQUA Registry

CMS conducted a random audit of the MIPS data submitted through the AQUA Registry and compared it to the data housed in the participants' electronic health record (EHR) system. The review returned a 100 percent match rate, meaning the data submitted for 2018 MIPS reporting were identical to the records from the participants' EHR system.

"This is a great success of the AQUA Registry because a match rate of 100 percent represents a perfect accuracy of the data reported to CMS compared to the original data stored in the participating practices' EHR systems," said Dr. Matthew Cooperberg, Senior AQUA Registry Advisor.

All AQUA Registry participants should report scores on the urology-relevant non-QPP measures because continued submissions of such measures will help build and strengthen national benchmarks for the urologic profession.

All practices interested in reporting MIPS through the AQUA Registry must subscribe to the Elite level. Please email AQUA@AUANet.org with any questions.

Earn Life Long Learning Credit

Qualifying physicians participating in the AQUA Registry who have access to and utilize the interactive dashboard and AQUA Registry improvement tools are eligible to receive Practice Assessment Protocol (PAP) credit for the Life Long Learning Program (formerly MOC) through the American Board of Urology (ABU). Confirmed providers will receive a certificate of participation, which they then email or fax to the ABU for PAP credit redemption.

How to use the AQUA Registry to attest to the Promoting Interoperability (PI) and Improvement Activities (IA) categories of the MIPS requirements. PI and IA are 2 of the 4 categories required by MIPS and together account for 40% of the overall score.