MIPS, it missed the mark. But DataDerm “is exactly what we need,” says Marta J. Van Beek, M.D., M.P.H. | AAD 2026

Marta J. Van Beek, M.D., M.P.H., sees problems when she looks with the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). “The intent was great. The regulatory rollout really missed the mark,” she says. And MIPS matters, she notes. There’s the potential 9% penalty associated with coming up short on MIPS. Combined with decreasing Medicare reimbursement, “you are looking at a really difficult time in keeping your practice open and keeping your practice.”

But Van Beek’s view of DataDerm, the American Academy of Dermatology’s clinical data registry, is just the opposite.

“I love DataDerm,“ says Van Beek. “I think it tells the story; it is exactly what we need.”

Van Beek, a dermatologic surgeon at University of Iowa Health Care and a clinical professor at the university’s Carver College of Medicine, spoke about both MIPS and DataDerm this past weekend in Denver at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting. Managed Healthcare Executive (MHE) interviewed Van Beek before the meeting.

MIPS was established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 and went into effect starting in 2017 as part of CMS’ Quality Payment Program (QPP). It is a set of performance metrics that are used to calibrate Medicare payments to physicians. Dermatologists can use DataDerm results in their MIPS reporting but also use it to track their performance for other purposes.

MIPS reporting, says Van Beek, has burdened dermatologists and other physicians with costs because electronic health record vendors charge them for adding MIPS reporting capabilities.

“They're charging our dermatologists and physicians to do that so they're making more money while the dermatologist and the physician is doing more work, just not to lose money,” Van Beek says.

Furthermore, says Van Beek, there’s a lack of evidence that MIPS reports has benefited patients. is lacking,

“There is no overwhelming published literature to show that MIPS, in its entirety, has moved the needle on patients’ well-being, not in dermatology but in all of medicine. That's not a derm issue. That's a whole healthcare delivery issue,” she says.

Van Beek’s criticism of MIPS is part of her broader critique of value-based care and how and by whom it has been developed.

“My opinion of the historical rollout of value-based care — it's fallen short, and we have a long way to go,” she says in this segment of her interview with MHE. She says more physicians who know and understand the delivery of care need to be “in the room” and fewer “bean counters.”

In contrast, DataDerm’s clinical data and related metric show the value of care delivered by dermatologists. “People need to understand that we treat serious disease,” says Van Beek.