ACR QCDR 2025 Deadline Reminders and MIPS 2026 Updates

If your practice is participating in the 2025 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), the deadline to submit all performance category data to CMS is March 31, 2026, at 8 pm ET. Groups or individuals using the ACR® National Radiology Data Registry as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for 2025 MIPS should finalize all data uploads by Jan. 31, 2026, to allow plenty of time to finalize submission to CMS.

CMS has finalized the addition of two new MIPS Value Pathways (MVPs) of interest to radiology groups. MVPs are an alternate pathway for MIPS participation in which groups select from a smaller, more curated group of measures and improvement activities specific to their specialty. Notably, MVPs require the submission of four quality measures, while traditional MIPS participation requires performance data for six measures. 

No other significant changes have been made to MIPS in 2026: 

• Performance threshold remains at 75. 
  
• Data completeness threshold for quality measures is 75%. 
  
• Performance category weights remain unchanged. 
  
• CMS will continue the measure scoring policy introduced in 2025, which allows a selection of topped-out, point-capped MIPS measures from certain specialty sets to achieve up to 10 points. 

For more information about measure benchmarking in 2026, visit the Quality Payment Program Benchmarks webpage.

For questions about 2025 or 2026 MIPS reporting, please contact the ACR QCDR support team.