This week, the General Assembly passed the final version of the fiscal year 2018 state budget. While the $25 million spend-down of the Medicaid tax was delayed in fiscal year 2018, MHA secured an additional $20 million spend-down commitment for fiscal years 2019 and 2020. This translates to a $70 million commitment to reduce the tax over the next two years. Additionally, full funding for Maryland's Institutions for Mental Diseases was maintained. With only one week of session left, MHA continues to work on a number of bills, including stopping legislation that would provide an exemption to the patient self-referral law benefiting certain oncology centers. Links to bills and MHA's position papers can be found in this week's Advocacy Dashboard.

Nearly 50 representatives from Maryland's hospitals on Wednesday attended a statewide meeting of emergency department leaders to discuss hospitals' role in addressing Maryland's opioid crisis. Maryland Deputy Secretary for Public Health Dr. Howard Haft, Opioid Operational Command Center Director Clay Stamp, and Baltimore City Health Department Director of Opioid Overdose Prevention and Treatment Mark O'Brien, spoke at the meeting. The meeting provided a forum todiscuss barriers to implementation as well as best practices for the following interventions:

MHA anticipates convening future meetings of emergency department leaders, which may include information on additional interventions such as peer or other therapy referrals/contacts from/in the ED; medication assisted treatment in the ED; and the use of community and local health department services. For more information, contact Sheena Siddiqui. 

The application process for the 2017 Hospital Bond Project opened this week. All application materials can be found on our website at www.mhaonline.org/bond. Hospitals should request correspondence for Certificate of Need non-coverage determination from the Health Services Cost Review Commission and Maryland Health Care Commission by Friday, April 28. Applications, including HSCRC and MHCC correspondence and other letters of support, must be submitted by  Friday, June 16. Application forms and other supporting documentation are submitted via hospital-specific SharePoint site. If you have questions, contact  Brett McCone,  Jennifer Witten, or  Jane Krienke. MHA will be hosting a webinar that provides an overview of the 2017 Hospital Bond Program on Tuesday, April 4, at 9 a.m. Click here for more details and to register.

Materials from the Health IT Security User Education Roundtable: A Best Practices Symposium, held at MHA earlier this week are available. A copy of the slide deck can be downloaded here. Attendees are also asked to complete a brief survey to provide their feedback on the event. 

Maryland's hospital CEOs are invited to an American Hospital Association cybersecurity leadership session April 6in Washington, D.C. An AHA-members-only link to the registration page for the session can be found on AHA's special cybersecurity webpage at www.aha.org/cybersecurity. Leadership Matters: Managing Cybersecurity Risk in Health Care will be held at theLoews Madison Hotel at 1177 Fifteenth Street NW from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The session is tailored for hospital or health system presidents/CEOs in response to requests from AHA members for non-technical resources to help them understand and respond to increasing cybersecurity threats. While it is required that the president/CEO of the hospital or health system attend, he or she may be accompanied by the organization's designated cybersecurity lead. The focus of the session will be best-practice leadership to address an organization's risk and minimize the impacts of cyber-events. Registration is free; participants will cover their travel and lodging expenses (the rate at the Loews Madison Hotel is $339 per night). Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and is capped at 20 organizations. The program will feature experts from BDO Consulting USA, including John Riggi, former FBI special agent and Section Chief for Cyber Division Outreach, and AHA staff experts on cybersecurity policy. It also will allow attendees to meet with local law-enforcement officials who are focused on cyber-attack response. For more information, contact AHA's Assistant General Counsel Lawrence Hughes at lhughes@aha.org, or 202-626-2346.