With just three months to the start of the 2021 legislative session in Annapolis, we’ll need to adapt to yet another new challenge brought on by the coronavirus: communicating with lawmakers remotely.

The coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn it has caused disproportionately affects the neediest Marylanders and communities of color. Even as some restrictions on business and social activity are lifting, the economy is slow to bounce back. Just last week the number of first-time unemployment claims in Maryland nearly doubled.

Caregivers in Maryland hospitals and health systems work year-round to heal patients and to keep their communities healthy. They also have an opportunity to help shape the direction of health care in our state and nation by casting their votes in the November 3 general election.

Even as many parts of our state reopen to commerce, on-campus learning, and indoor recreation, there is reason to hope we’ve crushed the curve. Though there was that 20% spike in COVID inpatients two weeks after Labor Day weekend.

Hospitals and health systems have a clear imperative to make real strides on health equity. At Friday’s MHA Executive Committee meeting, Donna Jacobs of UMMS, chair of the MHA Health Equity Task Force, and Dr. Sherita Golden of Johns Hopkins Medicine, chair of MHA’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Group, outlined the opportunity. They spoke of pursuing sustainable change and “to do well by the people we serve.”

This year, MHA celebrates its 50th anniversary. That’s 50 years working for and alongside you to advance health and health care in our state. I speak for the entire MHA team when I say it’s a privilege to advocate and educate on your behalf.

The start of the school year is now just days away. On Thursday Gov. Larry Hogan announced all local school systems are authorized to open for in-person instruction. For most children in Maryland, that seems unlikely. Many jurisdictions, including the largest ones, have already decided to begin the school year virtually.​

The coronavirus has altered every aspect of our lives—even the process by which we select our elected leaders. The unconventional party conventions have gone digital, and many more people are expected to vote by mail in November.

“I can’t imagine going back.” - CMS Administrator Seema Verma. We too, cannot imagine making patients forfeit the expanded access to telehealth that has become vital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When MHA’s Executive Committee approved our Commitment to Racial Equity recently, we put in writing our shared mission to right historic wrongs in our communities, our hospitals, and in the health care field.

We are by no means finished with COVID-19, so it may be premature to try to answer this question: Does the Maryland model of health care financing protect our hospitals against pandemic shock in ways not found in other states?

After making great strides through the spring in our fight against COVID-19, Maryland’s positive cases and hospitalizations sadly now are moving in the wrong direction.

Last week marked four months since Maryland’s first case of community transmission of COVID-19. In that time, our professional and personal lives have been upended by the novel coronavirus. That now looms over our 2021 legislative session.

Last week the number of people hospitalized in Maryland with COVID-19 fell below 400 for the first time since March. We expect some fluctuation, yet over the last two months, trends in our state are positive—fewer hospitalizations, less death, and a lower rate of positive tests.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can require hospitals nationwide to publicly share charges they negotiate with payers, a federal court ruled Tuesday. The field has prepared for this rule since last year, yet we’d hoped this burdensome mandate would be scrapped through a challenge from health care groups, including the American Hospital Association.

Two weeks ago I shared that we can and must do better as a field to address racism as a public health crisis. As you and your associates demonstrated during the recent White Coats for Black Lives tributes and in your celebrations of Juneteenth yesterday, it is not enough to denounce hateful behavior and systemic racism—we must act.

Monday would have been the MHA 2020 Annual Membership Meeting. It was the right decision to cancel it, at the same time it’s disappointing to miss seeing so many of you in person. Beyond the need to keep social distancing, we know right now you need time to unburden yourselves of the stress the last three months has put on your hospitals and systems. Plus, you continue to care for COVID-19 patients and many others who are in worse shape due to postponing care. What’s more, you have to prepare for a possible second surge.

Like people across our nation, we at MHA and throughout the hospital field have been deeply affected by the tragic, senseless killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. These losses take a toll, not only on their grieving families, but on us all, as we struggle with the very real consequences of longstanding, systemic racism.

COVID-19 has upended all our lives. In the process, it has revealed how we might deliver even better care and make the system work more efficiently for all. The most striking example is telehealth, which became the norm in Maryland and nationwide almost overnight. With the need to keep social distance, many patients and health care providers turned to their computers, phones, and other devices to seek and to deliver care.

It’s been roughly two months since Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our state. In that time, we at MHA, and all of Maryland, have been inspired by your teams every day. The dedicated people at hospitals answered the call quickly and with full force. Those efforts have saved many lives.