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June 2, 2019
Maryland Outperforms Nation On Health Spend
Health care costs are up nationwide, but in Maryland, hospitals and health systems are controlling health care spending while improving the quality of care.

That is an impressive win under our unique agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which requires all payers — Medicare, Medicaid, employer-sponsored insurance plans, and others — to pay the same rates.

To communicate this type of success and other evidence of our hospitals’ and health systems’ impact, we are launching a new product: MHA Insight.

This publication is meant to crystallize the Maryland hospital and health system story by taking a handful of topics each year and telling them in a concise, compelling manner. With analyses and visual presentation of the facts and figures, we plan to leverage MHA Insight to inform and influence audiences on your behalf. And, you can use this informative piece with your leadership, boards and internal staff, as well as for advocacy with elected officials and others.

In our first issue , we focus on hospital spending and employer-sponsored plans’ cost experience and trends in premiums. The bottom line: The Maryland Model succeeds in limiting hospital spending. Yet, while Maryland’s hospitals are managing to slow the rising cost of care, consumers are not seeing the benefit.

In fact, between 2013 and 2017:

  • Single coverage premiums in Maryland grew by 14.8%
  • Average out-of-pocket caps grew by 45.6%
  • Deductibles grew by 42.9%

We hope you find MHA Insight to be a valuable resource.
Bob Atlas
President & CEO
MHA Comments On Proposal To Revise Relative Value Units
The Maryland Hospital Association sent a comment letter Friday to the Health Services Cost Review Commission, weighing in on a proposal to revise relative value units for emergency department services. For more information, please contact Brett McCone , MHA Senior Vice President of Health Care Payment.
AHA Releases Survey On Price Transparency
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is surveying hospitals to gather data on price transparency. The goal is to better understand what member hospitals and health systems are doing to develop and implement patient-facing price transparency tools. A PDF of the survey is available here . For questions, contact AHA at [email protected] or (800) 530-9092.
CMS Names New Quality Improvement Organization For Maryland
LIVANTA recently entered into a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to be the new Quality Improvement Organization for Maryland. The new Memorandum of Agreement must be executed by all hospitals by June 7. For questions, contact Joy Bahnemann .
Maryland EHR-Based Chronic Disease Surveillance Health System Engagement
The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and the national Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control is issuing a request for applications to solicit Maryland health care systems as data partners to create automated electronic health record-based chronic disease surveillance protocols at clinical sites and use the aggregated clinical data for clinical quality improvement and public health planning interventions. MDH plans to award up to two standard grant agreements on a competitive basis, with each award totaling $61,500 for the period July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020. The application period will close June 7 at 2 p.m.
Summit To Focus On Leveraging Data To Succeed Under Total Cost of Care
The Beacon Institute’s 2019 Leadership Summit will focus on succeeding with data management within the Total Cost of Care Model. The Maryland Hospital Association is one of the leading partners for the event, June 24 at 9 a.m. at Turf Valley’s conference center in Ellicott City, along with the Maryland National Capital Homecare Association and the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients. MHA President & CEO Bob Atlas will deliver the keynote address. The seventh annual event will take a closer look at how leveraging generated data is a vital part of the success of an institution as well as the success of care. More information and registration details can be found here .
Celebrating Maryland's Health Care Heroes
Congratulations to our members who were named The Daily Record’s 2019 Health Care Heroes, honoring organizations and individuals who have made an impact on the quality of health care within our state. MHA is proud to be the event partner for this year’s event, which is June 27. A full list of winners can be found here .
MHA Launches Inventory Management Program
The Maryland Hospital Association is excited to announce the launch of the MHA Inventory Management Program. An exclusive offering for Maryland and Washington, D.C. hospitals, the MHA Inventory Program was developed to help health care providers manage accumulated and excess inventory. Across Maryland and D.C. there is over $225 million worth of medical supplies on hospital shelves at any given time; a good portion of these products are lost or tossed each year. One hospital’s excess product may be another’s treasure; MHA members now have the opportunity to buy unneeded inventory from one another .

Our compre hensive service offering includes:

  • Technology to automate inventory counts to eliminate wasted resources
  • Quickly and easily identify slow-moving, excess, and expiring inventory
  • Reallocate excess inventory within the health system
  • Get money back for the product you don’t need
  • Buy products at significantly discounted prices

For more information , contact your MHA Prime Client Executives: Joy Money at 240-856-3303 or Diane Bruno at 410-790-8031.
Thank you to our
2019 Annual Meeting Sponsors
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