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Southern Maryland hospital leaders urge state help for capital, workforce and payer reforms
Summary
Executives from Calvert Health, University of Maryland Charles Regional and MedStar St. Mary’s told the Southern Maryland delegation they need state funding, protections against payer denials, and support to recruit and retain staff ahead of Maryland’s AHEAD model changes.
Executives from the three primary hospitals serving Southern Maryland testified to the Southern Maryland delegation on Feb. 21 about capital needs, workforce shortages, emergency department capacity and threats posed by reimbursement changes under Maryland’s evolving payment model.
“Healthy hospitals equal healthy communities,” said Jeremy Bradford, president and CEO of Calvert Health, who asked legislators to support House Bill 351 and Senate Bill 520 to help fund a renovation of Calvert’s family birth center. Bradford said the hospital requested an allocation of $3,900,000 from an MHA bond grant toward a project whose total cost is “just under $10,000,000.”
Why it matters: All three hospitals described aging infrastructure, a tight labor market and increasing costs that exceed reimbursement. Albert Zenger, president and CEO of University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, said his hospital completed a 5,000‑square‑foot emergency department expansion — a $10,000,000 project that went fully live in September 2024 — and that even with that capacity improvement the region faces rising volumes and throughput pressures.
MedStar St. Mary’s president and chief medical officer Dr. Mimi Novello said Maryland hospital finances are precarious: “Half of the hospitals in the state of Maryland operate within the red,” she said, citing inflation, population growth and the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) methodology as drivers. Novello said the HSCRC provided a 4% funding increase this year but that it does not keep pace with inflation.
Workforce and safety concerns: All three leaders emphasized recruitment and retention challenges and increasing workplace violence. Zenger said hospitals are expanding security measures and partnering with law enforcement; Novello urged protections for health care workers similar to laws for airline workers and noted hospitals have increased reliance on costly agency staff when local recruitment falls short. Bradford said Calvert Health plans to add five net new primary care providers over five years to reduce emergency department pressure.
Payer denials and cash flow: Bradford and Zenger asked legislators to support policies to protect hospitals from insurer denials that strain cash flow and require administrative resources to resolve.
Legislative asks: Bradford named House Bill 351 and Senate Bill 520 as priorities for Calvert Health’s labor‑and‑delivery renovation. The hospitals also requested state capital funding to modernize facilities and asked that the AHEAD model implementation preserve hospital financial stability.
Ending: Delegation members expressed support and said they will follow up with hospital leaders. Sen. Jacky Jackson (Senator Jackson in transcript) and others offered to pursue ideas for staff welfare and recruitment programs. The delegation indicated it will consider the hospitals’ capital and workforce requests during the session.
