With two weeks until the crossover deadline, MHA is making good and substantial progress on the hospital field’s legislative priorities.

Well before the Maryland General Assembly began the 90-day session, we knew that efforts to strengthen your workforce would be our top priority. We have held true to that commitment, seeking more resources and state support, including a dedicated loan repayment program for nurses and nursing assistants.

Working in tandem with your government affairs teams, MHA secured $30 million in Gov. Larry Hogan’s supplemental budget to support Maryland hospitals’ staffing efforts. We continue to advocate for meaningful investment in recruitment and retention of hospital staff amid historic shortages and worsening burnout and strain.

And the years-long push for the legislature to repair the state’s broken medical liability system has borne fruit. MHA secured a commitment from legislative leadership to act on liability concerns. Though we have talked about the unsustainable liability climate extensively over the last two sessions, this year an independent, objective report—pushed for by MHA in the 2020 session and paid for by HSCRC—quantified the issue for lawmakers. This is a victory for the field and a good first step to make the system better for patients and hospitals.

MHA also is sharing hospitals’ and health systems’ unique considerations in the debates over paid family leave and action on climate change. These are important topics, and we are educating legislators on the potential unintended consequences of acting on incomplete knowledge.

We are grateful for the partnership of your government affairs leads, business leaders, and other hospital experts, who inform our advocacy and strengthen our messages when the General Assembly is in session, and when it isn’t, too.

Bob Atlas
President & CEO