The past two weeks have seen a lot of Medicare-related news. For starters, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a series of proposed Medicare payment rules for federal fiscal year 2020, including:​

Today health care industry conversations often veer toward innovation. This isn’t new for research, clinical advancement, care delivery, diagnostic tests, surgical procedures and the like; but we now think about it in relationship to, well, just about everything.​

The 439th session of the Maryland General Assembly, which ended April 8, was a strong 90 days for our state’s hospitals and health systems.

Maryland’s hospitals embrace an innovative, far-reaching model of health care delivery that holds the promise to keep people healthier and reduce the overall cost of providing care for all.​ To help meet these goals, the state’s hospitals work to address the causes of poor health and disease risk in our communities, which often are rooted in how and where we live, learn, work, and play.

Heartbreaking news out of Parkland, Fla., and Newtown, Conn., in recent weeks — in which survivors and loved ones of those affected by violence died by suicide — have put the devastating effects of trauma in the spotlight.​ Maryland’s health care leaders are all too familiar with the long-term effects of violence, natural disasters, and other harrowing events. You see suffering in the community. You know that health care workers may experience serious secondary trauma while caring for patients.

Our nation has entered a new political season, and a vocal group of elected officials and presidential candidates are promoting a single-payer health care system, or Medicare for All.​ Hospitals in Maryland, and nationwide, support universal coverage. And we cannot deny that our current system has flaws. Though, as David Brooks explained in plain language recently, moving to a single-payer system run by the federal government is impractical.​

Last week we announced our esteemed colleague, Mike Robbins, will retire on June 30. Until that date, Mike will continue to lead all efforts on matters related to the Health Services Cost Review Commission. We are fully prepared to continue our high-energy regulatory advocacy work beyond Mike’s transition. Moreover, your changing needs have spurred us to alter our staff structure. We are strengthening our focus on quality and health improvement, efficiency in total costs of care, and the widening uses of data in health care management

Maryland’s hospitals are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of every person in your care.​ The advances in patient safety that you are striving for are needed urgently. As has been widely reported, nationally, more than 250,000 deaths each year may be caused by medical errors.​ Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 10-16, offers a chance to refocus on eliminating harm.

Hospitals have long been dedicated to the proposition that the people they serve must have health insurance, so that they can afford care and so that risks and costs are spread equitably. That enables people to live healthy, productive lives. However, about 1 in 20 Marylanders still lack health insurance. And because of efforts at the federal level to undercut the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured once again could rise.

Patient safety and the delivery of quality care are central to every decision Maryland’s health care leaders make. It comes as no surprise, then, that evidence is accumulating showing that our hospitals are making great strides in improving patient safety and raising quality.​

There is a crisis in our state, faced by an estimated one in five Marylanders: mental health and substance use disorders (SUD).​ That is why your Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) created the Behavioral Health Task Force. Fifteen months ago, that group – made up of hospital leaders and experts in mental health and SUD — presented the Roadmap to an Essential, Comprehensive System of Behavioral Health Care for Maryland.

Last week’s tragic shooting outside a Maryland hospital was yet another reminder that health care facilities — seen as safe harbors — are not immune to the violence that plagues our communities.​ That message also was driven home during a recent hospital visit, when executives told me that a spate of multiple-victim shootings in their normally quiet county had truly shaken associates and affected their work performance. The CEO of another hospital lamented countless assaults on hospital staff by both patients and visitors.

Maryland is a national leader in health care, Governor Larry Hogan proclaimed during Wednesday’s State of the State address.​ He held up Maryland’s success under its unique health care financing model against what he described as the health care failures at the federal level.​

The new Total Cost of Care Model presents ambitious targets for hospitals and health systems. And as you well know, the hospital field cannot meet them alone.​ That is why leaders in Annapolis and elsewhere must become fully informed about the model – its aims and the challenges our hospitals face – and how they can support your efforts. ​

Gov. Larry Hogan’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget, released Friday, includes investments that support your mission of care, the health of all Marylanders, and the goals of the new Total Cost of Care Model.​

No matter your political leanings, it is obvious that Washington, D.C., is plagued by dysfunction and gridlock. The ongoing partial government shutdown, which began in December, is the third to have occurred in 2018 and, as of Saturday, is the longest in our nation’s history.​

When the General Assembly reconvenes in Annapolis Wednesday for the start of the 2019 legislative session, their docket will include many topics that affect your health systems, your patients, and your communities.