At Wednesday’s public meeting of the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC), staff shared figures on hospital performance for 2018 and 2019, compared to a pandemic period of 2020 and 2021. The numbers suggested Maryland hospitals are not just surviving but thriving. 
 
You know better. 
 
MHA contacted the Commission immediately to stress that real-time hospital finances show a very different picture. It’s important they acknowledge the 2020-2021 period reflects one-time federal relief and HSCRC support, and that they understand the unsustainable workforce pressures you face. 
 
To that end, MHA is collecting fresher information on hospitals’ financial outlook right now. 
 
At the meeting, HSCRC announced that it will begin placing the 2021 undercharges into hospital rates starting January 1. MHA advocated for HSCRC to fully guarantee the 2021 undercharges so that GBR revenues were whole. 
 
We must also tell your story to elected leaders. We began to lay legislative groundwork on workforce stressors several months ago. We briefed the chairs of the budget committees and the congressional delegation. And I reinforced our message directly with House Speaker Adrienne Jones the other day. 
 
We met with Attorney General Frosh to inform him of intolerable nursing agency tactics and spoke to Governor Hogan’s staff and Budget Secretary Brinkley to ask for a portion of the state’s surplus to go toward support for hospital recruitment and retention efforts. 
 
Meanwhile, our Task Force of the Future of Maryland’s Health Workforce begins meeting this week to explore ways to grow the talent pipeline. 
 
With your continued engagement and diligence, we will do all we can to overcome hospitals’ financial and workforce challenges. 
 
 
Bob Atlas 
President & CEO