Federal
MHA champions our members’ needs and goals to Congress, advocating for the support of Maryland hospitals
Ensure the Success of Maryland’s Unique Model
For more than 40 years, Maryland hospitals have operated within a regulated pricing system that encompasses all payers. Since 2014, acute care hospitals have additionally been placed under global revenue budgets established by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC).
The Model safeguards patients’ access to hospital services, supports revenue predictability, and promotes health equity for all Marylanders. In the most recent demonstration period, Maryland hospitals saved Medicare $2.2 billion while improving the quality and efficiency of care. Our new Model contract, which began in January 2019, keeps Maryland on the leading edge of care transformation. We encourage you to ensure our residents have the best possible health care by securing federal protections to maintain the Maryland Model and comprehensive health care coverage and empowering Maryland providers to share accountability for achieving the Model’s goals through participation in federal alternative payment models.
Improve the Health of All Marylanders
It is said one’s ZIP code is a better predictor of health than one’s genetic code, with social and environmental factors impacting health outcomes. Maryland hospitals work with care partners and community groups to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people, such as building primary care in underserved neighborhoods. Your backing is crucial to helping hospitals overcome rising threats to good health. We urge you to support a vibrant plan to make people healthier by promoting strategies to address social determinants of health, removing restrictions on reimbursements to create parity for services appropriately delivered via telehealth, and ensuring patients and providers can access vital drug therapies through fair and sustainable drug pricing while protecting the 340B drug savings program.
Foster a Robust and Inclusive Health Care Workforce
The core mission of our hospitals and health systems is caring for people. To fulfill that aim, hospitals and health systems need teams of compassionate, skilled, and dedicated professionals, serving both at the hospital and in the community. We encourage you to enable a strong health care workforce by supporting the recruitment and retention of health professionals across the continuum, enhancing liability protections and investing in emergency stockpiles of protective supplies, and promoting health workforce diversity and cultural competency through federal aid to minority-serving institutions and training programs to eliminate bias in patient care.