Family Medicine Residency Program part of Advocacy Day in Annapolis

Maryland Academy of Family Physicians coordinates opportunities for healthcare providers to speak with state lawmakers

Members of the Meritus Family Medicine Residency Program joined other physicians and medical professionals earlier this month in Annapolis as part of the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians’ annual Advocacy Day.

The day was spent speaking with lawmakers and others about legislation important to family medicine practices under consideration during the state Legislature’s 90-session.

“We are just trying to figure out how to best support physicians in whatever environment they work,” said Stacy Ross, M.D., M.S., FAAFP, program director of the Meritus Family Medicine Residency Program and also a Maryland Academy of Family Physicians board member. “We are trying to shore up the workforce in Maryland.”

Family medicine, also sometimes called primary care, cares for people of all ages, treating different health problems for both children and adults. Residents in the three-year Meritus Family Medicine program are doctors fresh out of medical school who are training to become family doctors.

“It was a great experience for the residents,” Dr. Ross said. “They actually got to see what happens in the legal world and how it affects what we do on a daily basis.”

The topics doctors touched on with lawmakers were focused on maintaining and growing the pool of healthcare providers in the state and providing more oversight on insurers:

·        Medicaid reimbursement rates: Gov. Wes Moore is proposing to fund certain Medicaid payments at 100% of Medicare in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which starts July 1. Historically, Medicaid payment rates to physicians have been too low to ensure there are enough doctors to treat patients. The state House of Delegates and the state Senate have to approve a state budget by the end of the legislative session on April 7.

·        Loan Assistance Repayment Program for Physicians and Physician Assistants: This program provides money to certain healthcare providers to help repay student loans, thereby making it more enticing for them to enter family medicine instead of a more lucrative specialty. The program had relied on physician licensure fees, which generated $400,000 annually for the entire state. The average medical school debt is more than $200,000. Moore’s proposed budget increases the program funding to $3 million.

·        Senate Bill 474/House Bill 848 — Health Insurance-Adverse Decisions-Reporting and Examinations: These bills, which the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians support, toughen the authority of the Maryland Insurance Administration, which regulates health insurance carriers in the state. The bills state that the rate of a health insurance carrier’s denials of claims for a treatment can’t grow by more than 10% in the preceding calendar year or 25% in the preceding three calendar years. If that happens, the insurers have to justify the increase to the Maryland Insurance Commissioner, who can levy penalties for violations.

Dr. Ross said the group reported being well-received by lawmakers and their staffs.

“It was very eye-opening for some of them,” she said. “We were educating them on not only the policies we support, but also how we get to be physicians — going through medical school, residency, etc.”

Beyond that, they also told lawmakers about how family medicine providers focus not just on coughs and fevers, but also on the social determinants of health, Ross said.

“That includes transportation, housing problems, employment problems,” she said. “We ask about those things and try to get patients the resources they need to improve their overall health.”