Maryland is one of five states granted a waiver by the federal government that exempts the state from Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement terms. Instead, hospital payment rates are managed and set by a federal Health Services Cost Review Commission.
For fiscal year 2017, the commission proposed a state-wide reimbursement rate increase of 2.16 percent for hospital services. Hospitals argue they need a bigger payment bump of 3.27 percent as they begin to transform their care delivery models, reports Baltimore Sun.
“To be able to invest tomorrow, we need to make sure we’re not short selling ourselves today,” Baltimore-based St. Agnes Health System President and CEO Keith Vander Kolk told Baltimore Sun.
Commission members are wary of approving a rate increase of more than 2.16 percent for the coming year, however. They fear a larger rate increase will cause Maryland’s healthcare spending to exceed the 3.58 percent annual growth limit set in their federal contract.
Commission staff vote Wednesday on rate increases for FY 2017.
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