This week, the General Assembly focused on meeting Monday's crossover deadline, when each chamber must send to the opposite chamber bills they intend to pass. The House maintained the governor's $25 million sick tax reduction in its version of the budget, which now goes to conference committee to reconcile differences between it and the Senate version, which includes a $30 million reduction. Bills aimed at shoring up Maryland's health insurance exchange were voted out of their respective committees, with no new hospital assessments included in that legislation. The House and Senate versions of the capital budget both include a $5.5 million allocation to the private hospital bond program, which will provide matching funds for six projects throughout the state. MHA also testified against an SEIU-supported bill that would require hospitals to submit an itemized list of their tax benefits to the comptroller. Throughout the legislative session, you can track MHA's activities via our dashboard , which provides an overview of the previous week and a look at important hearings and events for the following week.

The Health Services Cost Review Commission took final action on its Readmissions Reduction Incentive Program for Rate Year 2020 during its monthly public meeting this week. Commissioners also received a report on population health improvement activities at Peninsula Regional Medical Center, and a legislative update that noted support of HB 1782, a bill to stabilize the individual insurance market in Maryland, with an amendment to remove a hospital assessment as a source of funding for a reinsurance program. Read more in this month's Newsbreak .

The Maryland Department of Health has released data from the third full year of the All-Payer Model. Through year three, Maryland was on track to meet or exceed all model requirements, including hospital Medicare savings of $586 million and total hospital and non-hospital Medicare savings of $461 million through the end of calendar year 2016, while improving quality. A report summarizing the performance is available on the HSCRC website.

MHA's Annual Membership Meeting will be held June 11 & 12 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore.

Among the program's prominent speakers will be Dr. Atul Gawande, who has been named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Thinkers. A renowned surgeon and researcher and the author of Being Mortal: Medicine and what Matters in the End, Dr. Gawande will share his bold visions for improving performance by focusing on the needs of real people, the values that make for a healthy society, the science and technologies waiting over the horizon, and how to reform systems to make it all work. Gawande will also be available for a book-signing and to chat with attendees.

 

The time we spend together each year at our annual meeting is invaluable. Beyond the information and insight from speakers like Gawande, it's one of the times when we can truly connect to freely share ideas about the future of health care in Maryland.

 

Register now ! Be on the lookout for the brochure and other information coming soon. Hope to see you there.

 

Contact: Kathy Gotwalt

The Maryland Health Care Commission has recently posted the guidelines for the upcoming Home Health Agency (HHA) Certificate of Need (CON) review for the re-opened Upper Eastern Shore region (consisting of Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties). The purpose of the guidelines is to help potential applicants understand eligibility qualifications consistent with the CON application acceptance rules found in the HHA Chapter of the State Health Plan (COMAR 10.24.16.06). This document also provides a listing of qualified Maryland HHAs, hospitals, and nursing homes based on the same quality metrics used for the 2017 HHA CON review, with the exception that CMS Compare scores have been updated for use in the Upper Eastern Shore review.  The HHA CON review schedule for this review can be found here. Contact Kevin McDonald, MHCC Chief, Certificate of Need, for additional information a  kevin.mcdonald@maryland.gov or 410-764-5982.