Just over a year ago, Maryland became the first state in the country to achieve 100 percent hospital participation in the national Equity of Care pledge to reduce disparities in the health of minority populations. Since then, a few things have become clear: the work is not easy (but what good work is?); it will take a long time to create meaningful change; and there will be inspiring leaps forward and disappointing setbacks during the journey.​

This week’s report by the Congressional Budget Office scoring the revised American Health Care Act does not demonstrate any remedy to the core problem the original proposal would have created, namely that 23 million more Americans would lose health insurance by 2026 (a reduction of 1 million from the previous version). In addition, the $300 billion cut from hospitals to help fund Affordable Care Act coverage expansion would not be restored.​

MHA’s Annual Membership Meeting is less than a month away, and already close to 100 of your colleagues have registered. We’re hoping you’ll join us in Baltimore as well, to take time to reflect on your accomplishments, assess Maryland’s – and the nation’s – health care landscape, and spend some quality time with your peers.​

It was a packed room Wednesday, when hospital leaders gathered from across the state to hear from and provide face-to-face feedback to the state regulators who are negotiating with the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation on the next phase of the All-Payer Model.

Next week, concurrent celebrations offer a ripe opportunity to recognize the people and places responsible for providing healing and hope to more than 6 million Marylanders.​ National Nurses Week kicks off May 6 with its theme, “Nursing: the Balance of Mind, Body and Spirit,” focusing not only on how nurses promote the well-being of patients, but also on how to nurture the mental and physical health of nurses. The American Nurses Association has several resources to help your organization celebrate the caregivers who make up the backbone of hospitals, including: a logo library, a resource toolkit, and a May 10 webinar: “A Nurse’s Guide to Preventing Compassion Fatigue, Moral Distress, and Burnout.”

In the lead-up to the modernization of Maryland’s All-Payer Model three-and-a-half years ago, there were countless meetings, conference calls, emails, and negotiation sessions. This was not surprising given the magnitude of the seismic health care transformation that was being debated. But what made these talks successful was that the leaders of Maryland’s hospitals were engaged not just in the outcome, but also in the process.