Maryland Approves Plan To Create 375 Hospital Jobs

BALTIMORE (AP) -- State regulators have approved a plan that's expected to create about 375 hospital jobs for residents of impoverished areas in Baltimore and across Maryland.

State regulators reached a last-minute agreement on Wednesday requiring participating hospitals to pay a share of the cost of the program and the rest to come from hospital rate increases. The Health Services Cost Review Commission has agreed to make up to $10 million available for the program in fiscal 2017.

Hospitals applying for a share of those funds would need to provide a 50 percent match, bringing the total available for the program up to $15 million.

In April, administrators at Johns Hopkins Hospital had called for 1,000 new jobs in an effort to counter the despair they witnessed in the unrest following Freddie Gray's death while in police custody.

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