The 2015 General Assembly session was frenetic. As your advocate, MHA was in the thick of political negotiations on several fronts - pushing through a bill establishing a group to study Maryland's behavioral health crisis, securing a $25 million annual spend-down of the Medicaid tax, and fending off bad legislation that would have watered down valuable physician self-referral laws, among others.

 

Amid the din, Delegate Craig Zucker of Montgomery County approached hospitals with an eye-opening concern. He had learned that the identities of Maryland's children were at great risk from financial predators and wondered whether hospitals might be able to help spread the word about a state law that allows parents to place security freezes on their children's credit records.

 

Could hospitals pass out some sort of information during the discharge process for new moms to protect their newborns, he ventured.

 

Yes, that was one option.

 

But as Maryland's hospitals have plunged into whole-person care and taken on the responsibility of caring for entire communities, including the social aspects of our patients' well-being, we took it a step further. Thus was borne a full-blown public awareness campaign: kIDsafe Maryland.

 

Next week, a press conference will officially launch the campaign, in which hospitals and pediatricians will provide information (flyers, rack cards, web links) about resources that parents need to establish security freezes for their kids. A new website, www.kidsafemaryland.org, has information for parents, as well as links to high-resolution files for hospitals and pediatricians to print materials once the sample packets we distribute run out. The Maryland Office of the Attorney General is also on board and promoting the campaign.

 

This campaign is a prime example of how nimble hospitals can be when a concern about their patients and communities is called to their attention. It also demonstrates that a little bit of creativity and collaboration can go a long way in Annapolis.