After a breakneck flurry of wheeling and dealing, the General Assembly adjourned on time at midnight Monday, and hospitals can be proud of what we accomplished together over the past three months. Though many challenges faced us January 14 when legislators convened, we moved forward on several issues and held back others that threatened to get in your way as caregivers.
A new governor and administration, along with more than 60 new legislators (15 percent of the entire General Assembly), meant that hospital leaders and advocates were in full-time education mode. We worked together to bring freshman lawmakers up to speed on issues important to hospitals, but also to explain why and how hospitals are so important to Maryland - to its economy, to the health of its 6 million residents, and to the fabric of individual communities.
That investment in education paid off, as you saw at midnight Monday when we sent out our "2015 Legislature At-a-Glance" document. We pushed back against bad legislation and pushed through bills that will make the climate in Maryland more favorable to hospitals' operations. These include:
- a commitment to reduce the hospital Medicaid tax by $25 million per year
- the formation of a committee of 10 legislators to assess the state's behavioral health safety net
- the allocation of nearly $4 million for hospitals' capital projects
- blocking a bill that would have tripled the cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits
- securing flexibility to achieve mandated Medicaid savings, which helped hospitals avert $410 million in cuts
- defeating bills that would have watered down physician self-referral laws
- stopping an effort to legislate the care process by requiring hospitals to, within specific time constraints, designate and train a patient's caregiver, including a live demonstration of aftercare tasks and more
- a commitment from senators and delegates to convene a legislative group to study the concept of a no-fault birth injury fund
- preventing passage of a bill that would have allowed regulators to use extrapolation to estimate potential overpayments to be repaid by Medicaid providers
All of this has truly been a team effort - especially on the education front. Hospital CEOs, nurse leaders, physicians and others gave generously of their time to meet face-to-face with dozens of new legislators, to sit for hours waiting to testify for only a few minutes before key committees, and to reach out to their representatives to contribute to our singular, resonant voice in Annapolis.
Our work together, in addition to contributing to this year's victories, has laid a strong foundation for future legislative sessions. Some troublesome bills will return next year, and MHA's Council on Legislative and Regulatory Policy will soon begin preparing our own agenda for 2016. In the meantime, stay tuned for a detailed end-of-session wrap-up with a "next steps" plan regarding how bills that passed this year might affect your organization.
And, when you have a chance, take the time to reach out to your representatives to say thanks for their hard work to make sure your hospital has the tools you need to serve your patients and communities - their constituents! Their decisions, with the help of your input, mean our field is well-positioned for the coming year.
