Press Releases

Below are the most recent press releases from the American Hospital Association.

Latest

The nation’s hospital systems overwhelmingly meet patient expectations when it comes to receiving care reveals a new national poll from Morning Consult and released by the American Hospital Association (AHA).
Even in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic, all hospitals, regardless of ownership type, continued to provide a comprehensive range of benefits, programs and essential services to their communities.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is launching a new TV ad urging Congress to protect patient access to care by rejecting billions of dollars in reductions to hospital care. So-called site neutral policies could cause more hospitals to shut their doors, especially impacting patients from rural and low-income communities who could lose access to vital services like trauma and maternal care.
Caregivers and other health care professionals are the heart of our nation’s health care system and deserve an environment free from violence. Hospitals are places of healing, which is why they are using a range of innovative strategies to create safer spaces for their workers and patients, including focusing on technology and training to mitigate risk to redesigning facilities and workflow processes to prioritize safety and reimagining relationships with hospital security and others to support prevention and crisis response.
by Ashley Thompson - AHA Senior Vice President, Public Policy Analysis and Development
The AHA strongly believes that a skilled, caring workforce is integral to delivery of high quality, safe care. At the same time, safe staffing is about much more than a number. We are concerned that in proposing a one-size-fits-all numerical staffing threshold, CMS would remove the role of clinical judgment in staffing facilities, and inadvertently create patient access challenges across the health care system.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) has elected eight new members to its Board of Trustees for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2024. The Board of Trustees is the highest policymaking body of the AHA and has ultimate authority for the governance and management of its directions and finances.
A new “report” from Elevance Health — the large, for-profit commercial insurer formerly known as Anthem — draws absurd conclusions about the impact of health care systems on access to care, cost and quality. Of greatest irony is that while the national health plan behemoth, which dominates many insurer markets, is pointing fingers at the actual health care providers serving patients, it is pocketing record profits.
The AHA is deeply concerned with CMS’ woefully inadequate inpatient and long-term care hospital payment updates. The agency continues to finalize rate increases that are not commensurate with the near decades-high inflation and increased costs for labor, equipment, drugs and supplies that hospitals across the country are experiencing.
Once again, Patient Rights Advocate has put out a report that blatantly misconstrues, ignores, and mischaracterizes hospitals’ compliance with federal price transparency regulations. The AHA has repeatedly debunked point-by-point Patient Rights Advocate’s intentionally misleading “reports” on price transparency, including earlier this year in a blog and op-ed.
The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Next Generation Leaders Fellowship, focused on empowering leaders to bring about real and lasting change in health care, announced its latest class of fellows consisting of 43 individuals, including 12 Age-Friendly Fellows supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) Board of Trustees has elected Christina (Tina) M. Freese Decker, president & chief executive officer of Corewell Health, based in Michigan, as its Chair-elect Designate. Freese Decker will be Chair-elect in 2024 and become the 2025 Chair of the AHA, the top-elected official of the national organization that represents America’s hospitals and health systems and works to advance health in America.
The AHA is concerned that CMS is proposing an outpatient hospital payment update of only 2.8% in spite of persistent financial headwinds facing the hospital field. Most hospitals across the country continue to operate on negative or very thin margins that make providing care and investing in their workforce very challenging day to day.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Main Line Health in Bryn Mawr, Pa., has been named the 2023 recipient of the American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Prize. In addition, Atlantic Health System in Morristown, N.J., and University of Chicago Medicine, in Chicago, Ill., have been awarded Citations of Merit. All three will receive this prestigious recognition during the AHA’s Leadership Summit in Seattle on July 17.
The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) today announced that Meritus Health in Hagerstown, Md., Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., and Rapid City Hospital (Monument Health), in Rapid City, S.D., will receive the 2023 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care (EOC) Award. The awards will be presented during the AHA’s Leadership Summit in Seattle, July 16-18.
Two programs will be honored with the 2023 Circle of Life Awards for their efforts in palliative and end-of-life care. The winning programs are the Palliative Care Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Md., and the Center for Hospice Care, Mishawaka, Ind. In addition, Prospero Health in Boston will be recognized with a Citation of Honor. All three will receive this prestigious recognition during the AHA's Leadership Summit in Seattle on July 17.
The American Hospital Association (AHA) today released findings of three new surveys conducted by Morning Consult that examined how some commercial insurer practices impact the patient and provider health care experience.
by Rick Pollack, President and CEO, AHA
After more than five years of litigation and a unanimous Supreme Court victory, the AHA is extremely pleased that 340B hospitals will finally be paid back what they deserve so they can continue pro
by Stacey Hughes
The AHA is pleased with the Administration’s proposal to protect consumers from skinny “health plans” that often fail them.
America’s hospitals and health systems, regardless of size, location, or type, are committed to treating all patients with respect and dignity while providing high quality, accessible care, regardless of ability to pay or health insurance status.
The AHA was pleased to see the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee take action today on issues of importance to hospitals, health systems, and their patients and communities. We look forward to continuing to work with lawmakers on transparency and other important issues.