As reported in the Baltimore Sun, The Maryland Hospital Association recently spoke out against a proposal that would link medical spending to the state’s economic growth.

The Sun describes how a new proposal from the State of Maryland would change the test for a Medicare waiver.

State officials are trying to adopt a more modernized waiver as the way health care is delivered changes. The current test is based on an old health care model that focuses on inpatient hospital stays. Health care is moving toward a model of keeping patients out of the hospital by providing sufficient preventive and outpatient care.

Under the state proposal, a new test would take into account both inpatient and outpatient care, and do so per Maryland resident rather than per case. The new test, state officials said, would remove the incentive for hospitals to increase patient volumes.

According to the Sun, in a letter to the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, hospitals oppose the proposal, writing that “Hospitals’ financial condition is simply too fragile to accept the amount of significant risk and uncertainly outlined in the application.”

For more information, see the full story from the Sun.