Maryland Report Shows All-Payer Model Reduces Admissions, Lowers Costs

March 2018 ~

A new state report shows that the state of Maryland has seen reductions in hospital admissions and increased cost savings in the first three years since moving forward with its All-Payer Hospital Model.

Maryland implemented its statewide All-Payer Hospital Model in 2014 with a key goal of keeping hospital spending below economic growth (defined in 2014 as 3.58% annually). Under the model, all hospital payments by every private and government insurer regulated.

According to the report, over the span of 2014 through 2016, per capita hospital spending by all insurers grew by less than 2% a year in the state.

A separate report from RTI International found Maryland’s All-Payer model has saved Medicare a total of $293 million (1.8% of total Medicare spending) in 2014 and 2015.

The state program has saved the Medicare program for seniors and the disabled approximately 500 million dollars over three years and achieved “substantial reductions in hospitalization and especially improvements in quality of care,” stated a Medicare spokesman, adding, in the three years measured thus far, “the state has already exceeded the required performance for the full five years of the model.”

Source(s): Kaiser Health News;