The start of the school year is now just days away. On Thursday Gov. Larry Hogan announced all local school systems are authorized to open for in-person instruction. For most children in Maryland, that seems unlikely. Many jurisdictions, including the largest ones, have already decided to begin the school year virtually.​

The coronavirus has altered every aspect of our lives—even the process by which we select our elected leaders. The unconventional party conventions have gone digital, and many more people are expected to vote by mail in November.

“I can’t imagine going back.” - CMS Administrator Seema Verma. We too, cannot imagine making patients forfeit the expanded access to telehealth that has become vital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When MHA’s Executive Committee approved our Commitment to Racial Equity recently, we put in writing our shared mission to right historic wrongs in our communities, our hospitals, and in the health care field.

We are by no means finished with COVID-19, so it may be premature to try to answer this question: Does the Maryland model of health care financing protect our hospitals against pandemic shock in ways not found in other states?

After making great strides through the spring in our fight against COVID-19, Maryland’s positive cases and hospitalizations sadly now are moving in the wrong direction.

Last week marked four months since Maryland’s first case of community transmission of COVID-19. In that time, our professional and personal lives have been upended by the novel coronavirus. That now looms over our 2021 legislative session.

Last week the number of people hospitalized in Maryland with COVID-19 fell below 400 for the first time since March. We expect some fluctuation, yet over the last two months, trends in our state are positive—fewer hospitalizations, less death, and a lower rate of positive tests.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can require hospitals nationwide to publicly share charges they negotiate with payers, a federal court ruled Tuesday. The field has prepared for this rule since last year, yet we’d hoped this burdensome mandate would be scrapped through a challenge from health care groups, including the American Hospital Association.

Two weeks ago I shared that we can and must do better as a field to address racism as a public health crisis. As you and your associates demonstrated during the recent White Coats for Black Lives tributes and in your celebrations of Juneteenth yesterday, it is not enough to denounce hateful behavior and systemic racism—we must act.

Monday would have been the MHA 2020 Annual Membership Meeting. It was the right decision to cancel it, at the same time it’s disappointing to miss seeing so many of you in person. Beyond the need to keep social distancing, we know right now you need time to unburden yourselves of the stress the last three months has put on your hospitals and systems. Plus, you continue to care for COVID-19 patients and many others who are in worse shape due to postponing care. What’s more, you have to prepare for a possible second surge.

Like people across our nation, we at MHA and throughout the hospital field have been deeply affected by the tragic, senseless killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. These losses take a toll, not only on their grieving families, but on us all, as we struggle with the very real consequences of longstanding, systemic racism.

COVID-19 has upended all our lives. In the process, it has revealed how we might deliver even better care and make the system work more efficiently for all. The most striking example is telehealth, which became the norm in Maryland and nationwide almost overnight. With the need to keep social distance, many patients and health care providers turned to their computers, phones, and other devices to seek and to deliver care.

It’s been roughly two months since Gov. Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our state. In that time, we at MHA, and all of Maryland, have been inspired by your teams every day. The dedicated people at hospitals answered the call quickly and with full force. Those efforts have saved many lives.

It seems Maryland reached the peak in COVID-19 hospitalizations about a week ago. This was welcome news that Gov. Larry Hogan capped off this week by lifting our state’s stay-at-home order and replacing it, effective yesterday, with a “safer at home public health advisory.”

Since the start of the COVID-19 emergency, we’ve seen people world over—and here in Maryland—find unique and heartwarming ways to show support and appreciation for hospital workers. They’ve donated precious protective gear, delivered meals and goodies, and posted messages of thanks on your campuses and online for your health care heroes.

As your hospitals shore up supplies and staff to care for the surge of COVID-19 patients, you’re also seeing a remarkable decline in other patients—those with emergency care needs. Rightly, much of our attention is focused on responding to this public health emergency and making sure you have the resources in place to deliver life-saving care. Yet, it’s important also to understand why Marylanders are avoiding emergency departments. Incredibly, some hospitals report seeing half or even less of the volume they did pre-COVID in their EDs.

This public health emergency has challenged all our organizations—and us personally and professionally—in so many ways. Yet, your hospitals and systems are rising to the challenge. Since the first cases emerged in Maryland, the stories of your inventiveness have been inspiring.

This week the White House issued guidelines for “Opening Up America Again.” And Governor Hogan announced Maryland “is now in a position to plan the gradual rollout of the state’s recovery phase.” He laid out four building blocks: (1) Expanding testing capacity, (2) Increasing hospital surge capacity, (3) Ramping up supply of PPE, (4) Building a robust contact tracing operation.

In the toughest of times, we often see the best of humanity. That has been true during past crises and it is now. Health care workers are stepping up to the front lines of this public health emergency—as they always do—more than earning the moniker of health care heroes. Communities are showing great support for them, with local businesses volunteering resources and our citizens donating their time, talents, and precious protective gear to your efforts to keep Maryland—and your workforce—safe.