ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland became the first state on Friday to join a federal program designed to improve health care quality and equity while lowering costs for all health care payers, including Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.
It builds on Maryland’s Total Cost of Care Model, which sets a per capita limit on Medicare’s total cost of care in Maryland and encompasses the state’s unique all-payer hospital payment system, which reduces per capita hospital expenditures and supports improved health outcomes, as encouraged by the Affordable Care Act.
This new federal framework, known as the AHEAD model, has been designed to deliver high-quality health care through greater coordination, with a focus on health equity and social needs to support underserved patients.
“The AHEAD model is the next chapter in health care, so we are proud to be writing that new chapter right here in the state of Maryland,” said Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who signed the agreement with U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.