Establishing a Payment Floor for Physicians in Maryland

MEDCHI, THE MARYLAND STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY
HOUSE OF DELEGATES

INTRODUCED BY: Montgomery County Medical Society

SUBJECT: Establishing a Payment Floor for Physicians in Maryland

REFERRED TO:

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  1. Whereas, payments by payors to physicians in Maryland are the next to the lowest of all states – #49 of 50; and
  2.  
  3. Whereas, we have increasing difficulty recruiting physicians to Maryland because of practices’ inability to
  4. compete on compensation; and
  5.  
  6. Whereas, we have a worsening physician workforce crisis; and
  7.  
  8. Whereas, this workforce crisis is impacting patients’ ability to access primary and specialty care in
  9. Maryland; and
  10.  
  11. Whereas, physicians in Maryland are seeing more of their patients in contiguous states because there is
  12. greater payor competition and third-party payment in those states; and
  13.  
  14. Whereas, MedChi has advocated for a transparent payment floor in the renegotiation of the AHEAD waiver
  15. recognizing that requires all payors participating in the AHEAD model to pay physicians, healthcare
  16. practitioners, and regulated entities for care provided at or above the set payment floor; therefore be it
  17.  
  18. RESOLVED, that MedChi seek and/or support legislation which will address the physician workforce crisis
  19. by working with the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Insurance Administration to establish
  20. a physician payment floor by 2026 equivalent to or exceeding Medicare payment and to include an annual
  21. upward adjustment equivalent to inflation.