Maryland works to bring doctors, nursing homes into Medicare cost control program

Maryland faces a year-end deadline to submit a plan to expand a massive experiment in how it manages health care costs by including doctors, nursing homes and other health care providers.

The state is halfway through the five-year pilot program authorized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that attempts to control rising hospital costs. The program flipped hospitals' incentive from boosting volume to ensuring patient health, and significantly changed the way they do business.

The program is designed to benefit consumers — and taxpayers — by stemming soaring health care costs and improving their health, while stabilizing the financial future of the health care system.

To keep it going, state officials and hospitals must convince primary-care practices, nursing homes, specialists and other providers to do the same — keep costs in check while improving the well-being of patients — by better coordinating care from the emergency room to the follow-up at your family doctor.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-medicare-waiver-20161001-story.html