Senate Health and Welfare weighs reference‑based pricing and global budgets after Milbank briefing on Maryland model

The Senate Health and Welfare committee met Friday, Feb. 21 to discuss Part 4 of its committee bill on hospital budgets and payment reform, focusing on reference‑based pricing, total cost‑of‑care targets and the possible use of global hospital budgets. Green Mountain Care Board member Dave Mermin and John Colmers, chair of the Milbank Fund, gave the committee technical and comparative perspectives on implementation and timing.

Mermin, who identified himself as a board member of the Green Mountain Care Board but said he was speaking for himself, described reference‑based pricing as “a method to standardize prices paid for health care services” that uses Medicare as a base and then applies a multiple. He told senators reference‑based pricing addresses “price differentials between institutions”…