On October 27, Former Governor of Maryland and former Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley visited GW Law for its inaugural Health Care Law Symposium, which was made possible from generous contributions from individuals who helped pioneer the health law initiative. Governor O'Malley gave a lunch keynote address and was introduced by George Washington President Steven Knapp.
During his lecture, Governor O'Malley discussed the role of states in health care reform. He began by addressing the question on everyone's mind: How do we reduce health care costs and improve care?
According to the former Governor, there seems to be an inverse relationship between rising costs and the declining well-being of people. "We pay a larger portion of our incomes for health care than any developed society on the planet, and yet, we have some of the worst outcomes compared to other developed nations when it comes to the health and well-being of our people," he said.
Governor O'Malley's answer is to tackle the profit incentive of health care. Under the current system, he says, hospitals have become profit centers rather than places to keep people well. There is a never-ending cycle of services and fees; and now people have become "customers" who fill up hospital beds, leading to increased hospital profits. "Why do we pay our hospitals like they are hotels? It is not a place where we should want to go to discover a new dimension of luxury… So what if we stopped paying hospitals like they were hotels?" Governor O'Malley said.
The discussion moved on to the new Medicare waiver in Maryland, which aims to simultaneously improve health, quality, affordability of, as well as realign the profit incentive for, the 46 acute care hospitals. Instead of rewarding hospitals by the number of beds that are filled, Governor O'Malley's administration decided to create an incentive based on the number of patients kept healthy and out of hospitals. The waiver is designed to move Maryland hospitals away from a fee-for-service payment method. "The early results are very promising," Governor O'Malley said.
This is the health care revolution taking place in Maryland – a revolution that hardly anyone is talking about. In terms of the state's previous rate-setting system, it did not control the number of patients admitted to hospitals, and as a result, spending increased. The goal is to have hospitals work hard to not surpass the budget they were given by avoiding unnecessary hospital care, which could save Medicare at least $330 million over the next five years.
Governor O'Malley champions this new system as a model for the entire nation. Although Maryland has seen improved medical quality, better patient care, and renewed focus on prevention, Governor O'Malley is aware that changes in health care are not easy to push for. "What I am saying is that it is not a mystery; it is not impossible, it works. There is a model that shows the way. It is improving the well-being of our people. All that we need depends on change, and to refuse to change in the face of rising hospital costs and declining health outcomes would just be irresponsible," he said.