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For the past two years, our hospital and health system teams have shown compassion and courage as they’ve worked tirelessly to care for our communities during the greatest public health challenge of our lifetime. To all of those on the front lines, we express our sincere gratitude for your continued efforts, commitment and resiliency.

We are in a new environment now, and the AHA recognizes that. Because of this, the AHA is adjusting priorities to focus on the immediate needs of responding to the pandemic and also the vital work on long-term strategies to advance health.

The AHA Board of Trustees, in consultation with members throughout the country, has been working to finalize a three-year strategic plan, which will be released soon. Our plan charts a course for actions that we can take starting this year. We believe this work will get us closer to achieving a society of healthy communities where all individuals reach their highest potential for health.

Some of our key priorities for 2022 include:

• Providing better care and greater value.
• Advocating for the financial stability of hospitals and health systems.
• Addressing workforce challenges, including creating innovative and effective approaches and strategies to support our team members.
• Enhancing innovation, especially in supporting the health care workforce and meeting health care consumer demands.

In addition, renewed efforts on diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice must continue. Hospitals and health systems can create greater community empowerment and focus even more intently on investing in their communities and working to eliminate health disparities.

There are so many things to be excited about in health care now and for the future. For example, I see innovative partnerships emerging — in some cases due to the pandemic — which are moving care outside the four walls of our facilities and into our communities. Hospitals are developing digital tools to improve the consumer experience, create more efficiency and improve access. We’re expanding behavioral health services to reach a broader population, through virtual and other means. And we’re using data in more unique ways to understand how best to provide the care that people need.

It’s an honor and privilege to serve as Chair of the AHA Board of Trustees. Thank you to my predecessor, Dr. Rod Hochman, for his outstanding leadership during another unprecedented year.

This year, I look forward to listening to your needs, connecting with you virtually and in person, and working to help steward our association and support our members.

When I think about our field, the words of one of history’s greatest artists, Maya Angelou, come to mind:

“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”

While our field has been challenged by COVID-19 the past two years, we certainly have not been reduced by it. So much good happens at our organizations on a day-to-day basis that we have much to be thankful for, and even more to look forward to in the coming year.

Wright L. Lassiter III
AHA Chair