Earlier this week, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has approved Maryland's 1332 State Innovation Waiver to create a state reinsurance program. The program is designed to help stabilize Maryland's individual health insurance market and prevent large rate hikes. In early August, MHA submitted a comment letter to CMS in support of the application, noting that the waiver would ensure more Marylanders receive preventive services and care in the most appropriate settings. "This will reduce avoidable hospital utilization and lower the cost of care across the continuum," the letter states. "Affordable, stable coverage also improves access to substance use disorder and mental health services, particularly important given Maryland's unrelenting opioid crisis."

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation last month approved a new Care Redesign Program track for Maryland's hospitals to participate in a voluntary program similar to the federal Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced program. The Episode Care Improvement Program (ECIP) joins the existing care redesign programs - Hospital Care Improvement Program and Complex and Chronic Care Improvement - and will launch in January 2019.

 

To facilitate hospitals' participation, CRISP is making available several resources, including Excel-based tools, reference documents, and webinars. Participating hospitals' implementation protocols for the ECIP must be submitted to CRISP by October 31, 2018.

 

The first of two core webinars to train hospital staff on how to use CRISP's tools was this week and the second, Completing Implementation Protocols and Selection Workbook, is September 5 at 9:30 a.m. Click here to register. Attendees will learn how to calculate target payments, how specific quality adjustors impact payments, and will be shown examples of how savings can be shared with care partners. They will also receive guidance on how to complete the implementation protocols.

 

Supplemental webinars will provide additional details and further opportunities for questions. Click the hyperlinks to register.  

  All webinars will be recorded and posted on MHA's website.

 

Contact: Nicole Stallings

The application deadline for practices to apply for the Maryland Primary Care Program (MDPCP) is August 31. A primary objective of the MDPCP is to enable clinicians to spend more time meeting the needs of their patients, rather than focusing on a higher volume of visits. Primary care physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists are all eligible. Several tools and resources are available on the MDPCP website, including a Practice Application Portal , the Request for Applications (RFA) , Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) , CTO Comparison Tool , and mini-webinar series .