Maryland Officials Outline AHEAD All‑Payer Model, Highlight Tools to Address ER Wait Times and Hospital Stability

Summary

Health Secretary Laura Herr Scott and HSCRC Executive Director John Krom briefed the Appropriations Committee on the AHEAD model, its goals for health equity and primary care expansion, protections negotiated with the federal government, and how the state plans to address emergency department capacity and uncompensated care.

Laura Herr Scott, Maryland’s secretary of health, and John Krom, executive director of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, presented an overview of the AHEAD (Advancing All‑payer Health Equity Approaches and Development) model and outlined how the state is preparing to implement its commitments while managing risks from federal changes.

“The AHEAD model preserves important characteristics of our hospital rate‑setting system and enables a statewide health equity strategy,” Krom said, adding that “Maryland receives an additional $1,700,000,000 in federal payments for Medicare and Medicaid patients,” a funding stream tied to having the state’s waiver arrangement in place.

Scott and Krom framed AHEAD as a successor/extension of Maryland’s long‑standing all‑payer hospital rate setting and the 2019 total cost of care agreement with the federal government. They said the state signed a high‑level…

Maryland Officials Outline AHEAD All‑Payer Model, Highlight Tools to Address ER Wait Times and Hospital Stability

Summary

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