AHA Stat Blog

Imagine if the government required health insurance and drug companies to account for every dollar they spent, audit those data, and publicly report those numbers. The pushback would be tremendous, yet that is the reality for hospitals and health systems operating in the U.S.

The AHA’s 2024 Annual Membership Meeting gets underway in two days with a jam-packed schedule featuring prominent federal legislators, top officials from the Administration, influential newsmakers, and hospital and health system leaders who are propelling innovation in our field.

The health care workforce provides critical services to patients, their families and communities.

During the last two weeks we have seen a flurry of regulatory activity affecting hospitals and health care providers, and we expect that trend to continue for the next several months.

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of innovation and safety in health care. Hospital and health system teams responded and adapted nimbly during the pandemic — developing and deploying innovative processes and creating new tools and technologies to better serve their patients, communities and care teams.

As the campaign season heats up, it’s important for all health care providers to speak up, ask hard questions of candidates and evaluate their thinking on the issues that affect our field.

America’s hospitals and health systems have proven their dedication to caring for their patients and communities time and again, particularly during the challenging circumstances in recent years. Though the Lown Institute’s so-called “Fair Share” report highlights the important contributions of certain hospitals, it misses the larger point, selectively relying on isolated data to paint a negative picture about the hospital field in general.

In today’s episode, I talk with David Zuckerman, president and founder of the Healthcare Anchor Network.

The Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care, which for 24 years has fought to protect access to high-quality care for all Americans, will now be known as the Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare: Protecting 24/7 Care.

The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence (HAV) initiative shares resources and strategies to promote a culture of safety across the field. To guide health care leaders in efforts to prevent and mitigate violence, the HAV initiative developed the Building a Safe Workplace and Community framework.

A March 14 editorial in the Washington Post calling for Congress to enact so-call

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) today released its annual March Report advising Congress on the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payment systems. In it, the commission recommended its highest ever Medicare payment update for hospitals and health systems, recognizing the dire financial environment they continue to operate in. Specifically, MedPAC recommended that for fiscal year (FY) 2025, Congress update the Medicare base payment rate for hospitals by current law plus 1.5%.

In 30 days hospital and health system leaders from throughout the nation will gather in Washington, D.C. for the 2024 AHA Annual Membership Meeting.

This week is Patient Safety Awareness Week.

We continue to press Congress, the Administration and UnitedHealth Group to step up their efforts to respond to this unprecedented incident.

Communication. Teamwork. Unity. That’s what helps drive health care innovation, accelerates health equity, improves health outcomes and advances health in our communities.

The cyberattack against Change Healthcare that began on Feb. 21 is the most serious incident of its kind leveled against a U.S. health care organization.