Feds, state move on exchanges, hospital rate setters
The federal government handed down some new regulations outlining how states should manage the exchanges where the uninsured will buy coverage in 2014.
They’re broad and give states wiggle room on naming insurers and controlling premiums, according to this story in the New York Times. But all the states will need a plan by Jan. 2013.
Maryland already passed legislation to set up the public body and board that will oversee the exchange but officials are still working out details. Joshua Sharfstein, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and chair of the exchange board, said he’s reviewing the regulations to see how they will impact the effort.
“I think we’ve been moving pretty quickly with the exchange to get things set up,” he said. “I think the federal government provided some additional flexibility, which will be very much appreciated by states.”
In addition to setting up the exchange framework, officials have created the Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform and enacted some other consumer protections at the state level, noted Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who co-chairs the Health Care Reform Coordinating Council that is overseeing the reform effort. The panel met yesterday and Brown said there has been “real progress in the last six months in our efforts to lower costs, expand access and improve the quality of care for all Marylanders, but our work is just beginning.”
On another health care front that will also impact what people pay for care, Gov. Martin O’Malley has filled four positions on the Health Services Cost Review Commission, the body that sets hospital rates in the state.
The new chair will be John M. Colmers, the former secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the current vice president, Health Care Transformation and Strategic Planning for Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Other members will be Dr. Bernadette C. Loftus, the associate executive director of the Permanente Medical Group; Thomas R. Mullen, president and chief executive officer of Mercy Health Services and Mercy Medical Center; and Jack C. Keane, an experienced health care consultant with expertise in health care payment policy.
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