Some will have an immediate impact on your organization, like a law mandating registration with the state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act, which helps hospitals work with patients' family members or friends to coordinate post-discharge care. (Maryland is one of 30 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to pass the CARE Act.) Other laws are more ceremonial, like the Governor's annual proclamation of April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day.

For your convenience, MHA has compiled a list of the nearly two dozen bills, and guidance for who in your organization should be notified, that become effective tomorrow. In addition, because the CARE Act has the potential to present a larger public profile, we've generated a single-page information sheet to familiarize you with its requirements.

As laws from the previous session begin to take effect, MHA is developing strategies for next year's legislative agenda. Earlier this month, MHA's Executive Committee approved an agenda focused on three top priorities: preserving the $25 million annual Medicaid tax spend-down, improving the state's medical liability environment, and addressing Maryland's behavioral health crisis.

As is the case every year, MHA also will play a good bit of defense to fend off bad legislation that threatens to hamper your ability to care for patients and communities. And as always, we'll rely on you to help tell the story in Annapolis of how hospitals are working to make their communities healthier and more stable.

If you have any questions about the laws in the spreadsheet, contact Jennifer Witten, Director, Government Relations. And stay tuned in the next couple of months for advocacy materials that will help our field further the hospital case in Annapolis next year.