April 12, 2022 – The Maryland General Assembly adjourned at midnight closing the books on a dynamic Session like no other.   Starting out completely virtual, the Session ended in a hybrid format as the Senate shifted in mid-February to in person testimony and committee hearings, while the House remained in virtual operations.  Nevertheless, over 3,000 pieces of legislation were worked on by the House and Senate over these last 90 days.  The work of the Legislature was buoyed by a robust budget surplus of approximately $7 Billion, from which the State made significant investments through the Operating and Capital Budgets. 

We are proud to share some highlights from the 2022 Session. 

• Introduced a bill to remove barriers to care through fair copays, Senate Bill 725 / House Bill 974 – Health Insurance – Physical Therapy – Copayments, Coinsurance, and Deductibles (See the latest update)
• Secured restoration of Medicaid funds for Emergency and Management (E&M) codes to 100% of Medicare.  In recent years they had been in the range of 92-94% of Medicare.
• Secured passage of Senate Bill 28 that will require the Maryland Department of Health to increase the cap on Home and Community Based Waiver slots to 7,500 and work to resolve the 21,000 person/8 year long wait list for Maryland’s disabled and seniors who wish to receive care in the community.
• Worked with fellow stakeholders to advance legislation and support financial investment in improving the State’s behavioral health delivery system.  A number of bills were introduced and passed that seek to modernize the delivery of behavioral health, ensure appropriate payment for providers, explore ways to increase access to mental health and take a broad-based approach to identifying mental health needs and gaps in treatment.  This will continue to be an issue in Sessions to come.
• Secured protections for providers who may or may not wish to enter into 2-sided risk health care innovation models.  House Bill 1148/Senate Bill 834 will allow insurers to enter into risk sharing arrangements with health care providers.  This would allow providers to benefit from any health care savings but be financially responsible for non-savings.  The legislation as passed includes protections to ensure that providers who choose not to be part of the model are not negatively impacted financially through their rates, and provide rate protection for providers who do engage in these models.
• Secured Capital grant funding that will be used to upgrade and repair facilities essential to providing experiential learning for students and enhancing the visitor and user experience.
• Supported provider rate increases of between 7.5 – 8% in the coming fiscal year for providers for the developmentally disabled, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and home and community- based services.
• Successfully began discussions regarding fair copays that will result in an interim study and began discussions regarding school-based healthcare providers and establishment of a School Retention Program.
• Supported efforts to strengthen operations and management of nursing homes and Assisted Living communities.  Post-Session work will continue on modernizing the body of regulations that currently exist for assisted living, with a particular focus on care for those with Alzheimer’s and related disorders.

These were just a few of the many issues that we successfully navigated this Session.  

While the 2022 Session has officially ended, the election season is upon us.  The Primary elections are currently scheduled for July 19^th when all 188 members of the General Assembly, plus the Governor, Lt. Governor, Comptroller, and Attorney General are up for election.  It’s going to be an exciting summer and fall.