WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) expressed their support for the agreement between the State of Maryland and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the future of Maryland’s All-Payer Demonstration Model – Maryland’s innovative approach to hospital payments. This has been a successful statewide effort that covers 800,000 Medicare beneficiaries and 6 million Marylanders. The agreement announced today will allow Maryland’s work to continue under a new Total Cost of Care Model. It will focus on improving quality and providing $1 billion in Medicare savings over five years across the entire health care system, including physicians and post-acute providers. In December 2016, the Maryland delegation sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, urging that this model be upheld.
“This approval is the result of a sustained and coordinated federal-state effort to recognize the success of Maryland’s system that manages the total cost of patient care in a cost-effective way, while maintaining quality and results,” said Senator Cardin, a member of the Senate Finance Health Care Subcommittee, which has oversight responsibility for CMS. “There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but the Maryland Model can show other states how to successfully reward quality over quantity by moving away from ‘per admission’ and concentrating on best managing a patient’s short-term and long-term care.”
“Maryland has been a leader in the effort to incentivize our health care system to emphasize the quality of care over the quantity of care and to focus on value, not volume. In fact, our unique All-Payer Demonstration Model has met or exceeded every quality and performance measure over the last five years,” said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “This new agreement between CMS and the state will allow that vital work to continue. I’m committed to working with Maryland officials, health care providers, and the federal government to reduce costs and improve our quality of care and health outcomes for families across our state.”
For over 40 years, the federal government has allowed Maryland to set hospital payments at the state level. The Total Cost of Care Model will build on the successes of Maryland’s All-Payer Model in limiting hospital cost growth, providing Medicare savings, and improving the quality of care delivered to Marylanders.
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