Hospitals say they've been left out of state talks on Medicaid waiver

Health care leaders broke months of silence about the state’s talks to come up with a new Medicare waiver plan, and in the process exposed a riff between hospitals and state officials.

Top health officials told the state Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Jan. 22 that they want to update Maryland’s Medicare waiver — a policy used to regulate hospital rates — in a way that would change the way hospitals are held accountable for costs and open the door for systemic change to Maryland’s…