Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission has dictated the Medicare rates for hospitals for the past 35 years under a special exemption waiver from CMS. In order to receive the waiver, the state must show the federal government its Medicare costs grow more slowly than the rest of the country, but Medicare costs have climbed dramatically in recent years, according to the report.
This system has been based on inpatient care, but because inpatient admissions are bowing to the outpatient trend, the HSCRC is looking at ways to preserve the system while adjusting for the changes.
“We are looking to evolve the system to address changing circumstances in healthcare,” John Colmers, chairman of the HSCRC and vice president of strategic planning for Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in the report. “I think there generally remains support for this among the political leadership, the hospitals and the insurers.”
In May, the HSCRC approved a net payment increase of 0.3 percent for fiscal year 2013, which included a 1 percent cut to inpatient rates.
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