State health officials talk plan to change the way hospitals are reimbursed

The plan would tie hospital spending to the state economy and virtually eliminate a reimbursement model based on the volume of hospital admissions that has been in place for nearly four decades. It would instead reward hospitals for quality of care and keeping patients healthy.
   
The proposal is part of an application that must be approved by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to update the state's Medicare waiver, an agreement with the federal government unique to Maryland that allows the state to set generally uniform hospital rates through a special commission. In other states, hospitals typically set their own rates, while Medicare dictates rates for its patients.