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Federal health officials have authorized Maryland to continue its unique “all payer” health-care model for hospitals through 2019, while the state seeks approval to apply a similar plan to outpatient service providers such as doctors, skilled nurses and rehabilitation centers. Officials say expanding the program, which regulates how much hospitals can charge in exchange for having the federal government cover a larger share of Medicare costs than it does in other states, is one of the strongest steps Maryland can take to fulfill a federal requirement to lower its annual Medicare costs by $330 million. (Hicks, 1/8)

State and federal health officials delayed the potential expansion of Maryland’s experimental health care cost control program by another year to give them more time to evaluate data from 2017. Maryland is negotiating with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to establish a 10-year program that would encourage doctors, skilled-nursing facilities and rehabilitation centers to work with hospitals to improve patient health and save Medicare money. (Gantz, 1/8)