General Information

This report is in response to the Governor's request for a thorough review of Maryland Hospital Financial Assistance and Credit and C​ollection policies following concerns raised about: 1) potentially overly aggressive collection tactics; 2) wide variations in published policies, procedures, and funding levels; 3) potential inconsistencies in the application of published policies; 4) breakdowns in communication among hospitals, patients, and governmental entities leading to excessive financial hardship and emotional stress for patients otherwise meeting the eligibility standards for charity care; and 5) other inconsistencies. This report is an interim report presenting background information regarding the provision of financial assistance and application of credit and collection activities by hospitals; and evaluation of those activities relative to previously developed voluntary standards and current national trends.

Ashby Report (2007)
This publication is an update of a report originally produced in 1998 for the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) by Mr. Jack Ashby, currently the Research Director for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). This is an educational tool and reference guide to help newcomers understand the inner workings of today's payment system in Maryland.

Policy Overview and Background on the HSCRC
This paper describes Maryland's all-payer hospital payment system from a policy perspective. Accordingly, its focus is on the legislative principles that gave the system its initial purposes; the rate setting tenets and approaches that were adopted by the HSCRC in its efforts to achieve those purposes; the results achieved by the HSCRC and the hospital industry in controlling costs and meeting various social responsibilities; the key hospital financing issues that remain to be addressed; the remarkable benefits which the regulatory approach has conferred on Maryland as compared to the less desirable effects of competition in California; and, finally, the relevancy of the main ideas of the successful hospital rate setting effort to future health reforms in Maryland.