"CMS has been hard at work to address the burden placed on clinicians by federal health care regulations. Through [CMS'] “Patients over Paperwork” initiative [they] are collecting feedback and updating policies in Medicare and Medicaid that are outdated, duplicative, or overly burdensome.

One key initiative that [CMS has] launched involves streamlining the measures that clinicians report; a recent Health Affairs study found that U.S. medical practices in four common specialties on average spend, per physician, a striking 15.1 hours per week and over $40,000 per year reporting quality metrics. The litany of regulations in healthcare contributes to the consolidation we’re seeing in the system. According to a survey by the American Medical Association, the percent of clinicians with ownership status in their practice declined from 53 percent in 2012 to 47 percent in 2016, with younger physicians more than three times as likely as older physicians to be employed by hospitals."

You can read the full letter here.