Ch. 468

LAWS OF MARYLAND

CHAPTER 468

(House Bill 454)

AN ACT concerning

Prenatal and Infant Health Care Services - Pay Schedule

FOR the purpose of requiring the Secretary of Health and Mental
Hygiene to make an assessment of certain health care
services in consultation with the Health Services Cost
Review Commission; establishing the criteria and scope of
the assessment; requiring the Secretary to report to the
Joint Committee on Health Care Cost Containment and the
General Assembly by a certain date; the Secretary to make
certain reports to the General Assembly by certain dates;
authorizing certain applicants to receive certain health
services; requiring the Secretary to adopt certain
regulations; requiring local health agencies to implement
uniform procedures for certain purposes; requiring that
reduced rates for certain recipients of certain health care
services be applied fairly and uniformly and according to a
certain fee scale; and generally relating to an assessment
of health care needs for prenatal and infant care.

BY adding to

Article - Health - General
Section 16-201.1
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1982 Volume and 1986 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, In 1985, between 2,700 and 4,440 expectant mothers
in Maryland received late or no prenatal care; and

WHEREAS, The current regulations direct the Secretary of
Health and Mental Hygiene to set charges for services based on
costs, that the costs of maternity services depend upon a variety
of factors and vary according to county, and that current charges
range from a low of $26 per visit in one county to a high of $93
in another; and

WHEREAS, It is believed that the current local health
agencies ability-to-pay schedule and the practice of quoting fees
over the telephone serve as deterrents to the use of health care
services; and

WHEREAS, Under the Department's current ability-to-pay
schedule, individuals who fail below the poverty level, either
are covered by Medicaid or are not charged for services and
individuals with incomes between 100 through 200 180 percent of

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