Policy Statements

Policy Statements / en Sun, 27 Apr 2025 14:45:01 -0500 Mon, 17 Jul 23 15:23:43 -0500 FTC withdraws health care antitrust enforcement guidance /news/headline/2023-07-17-ftc-withdraws-health-care-antitrust-enforcement-guidance The Federal Trade Commission July 14 voted 3-0 to withdraw two antitrust <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/07/federal-trade-commission-withdraws-health-care-enforcement-policy-statements">policy statements</a>&nbsp;related to enforcement in health care markets, calling the 1996 and 2021 statements outdated. The Department of Justice withdrew the same statements in <a href="/news/headline/2023-02-03-doj-withdraws-certain-health-care-antitrust-enforcement-guidance">February</a>. &nbsp; &nbsp; “AHA is deeply disappointed that the FTC made the same mistake as the DOJ in withdrawing antitrust guidelines for hospitals and other health care providers,” said AHA General Counsel &amp; Secretary Melinda Hatton. “Over the years, AHA has urged both federal antitrust agencies to modernize the guidelines to accommodate the need for more flexibility in enforcement actions to support hospitals’ ability to navigate a changing health care landscape. And, AHA was instrumental in securing appropriate ACO guidance that allowed hospitals to fully participate in that important program. Withdrawing all the guidance without consultation with the field is both unnecessary and reckless.” Mon, 17 Jul 2023 15:23:43 -0500 Policy Statements AHA Statement on Executive Order on Competition /press-releases/2021-07-09-statement-executive-order-competition Rick Pollack President and CEO&nbsp; �� Association July 9, 2021 Today’s executive order is expansive, establishing an all-of-government effort to promote competition across many sectors of the economy. With health care, the executive order targets drugs costs and commercial health insurance plans, and hospitals and health systems as well, among others.&nbsp; In fact, with commercial health insurance plans, nearly three out of four markets were highly concentrated in 2019 and the top five largest insurers alone control nearly 50% of the market. Studies have found that when an insurance market is highly concentrated, insurers reduce provider payments and do not pass savings along to the consumer. We urge federal agencies to focus on policies that address in a meaningful way competition among commercial health insurers. However, today’s executive order falls short in several ways. For example, it does not recognize the exceptional value and essential services health systems provide to their patients and communities each day. This has been highlighted during the public health emergency of COVID-19. The pandemic challenged hospitals to transform their operations, which included rapidly expanding telemedicine services, overcoming shortages of equipment and drugs, retooling operations and reconfiguring space to provide life-saving care for patients and protect others from contracting the virus. Many hospitals were also called upon to backstop an inadequate public health response by providing information, counseling and vaccinations as those became available.&nbsp; Additionally, it is important to stress that hospital mergers and acquisitions undergo an enormous amount of rigorous scrutiny from the federal antitrust agencies and state attorneys general. Finally, contrary to statements in the executive order, health systems can be a particularly important option for retaining access to hospital services in some rural communities. Mergers with larger hospital systems can also provide community hospitals the scale and resources needed to improve quality and decrease costs.&nbsp; &nbsp; ### Contact: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Colin Milligan, (202) 638-5491, <a href="cmilligan@aha.org">cmilligan@aha.org</a> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351, <a href="mjohnson@aha.org">mjohnson@aha.org</a> Fri, 09 Jul 2021 15:25:25 -0500 Policy Statements AHA Statement on Political Giving Practices Following Tragic Events at U.S. Capitol /press-releases/2021-01-14-aha-statement-political-giving-practices-following-tragic-events-us January 14, 2021 The AHA Board of Trustees today approved the following statement on AHA’s political giving practices. “The tragic events last week at the U.S. Capitol were an assault on our democracy. This prompted the AHA to begin an <a href="/special-bulletin/2021-01-12-aha-statement-tragic-events-us-capitol">immediate review </a>of our political giving practices to ensure they are guided by our Association’s vision and mission, as well as the democratic values we share as a nation. “AHA’s political contributions are made under the authority of the AHA Board of Trustees in consultation with our Political Action Committee Steering Committee, state hospital association partners, and hospital and health system leaders from lawmakers’ states and districts. “Our decision process evaluates each candidate individually based on a broad set of factors. After conversations with the groups mentioned above, we have decided that for individuals who voted against accepting the results of the Electoral College, we will immediately suspend political contributions. “Hospitals and health systems have a special role to play as community leaders, healers and caregivers for our patients and the wider communities we serve. As we said last week, now is the time for our country to <a href="/news/perspective/2021-01-07-perspective-time-heal">come together and begin the healing process</a>.” ### Contact: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351 <a href="mailto:mjohnson@aha.org">mjohnson@aha.org</a> Colin Milligan, (202) 638-5491, <a href="mailto:cmilligan@aha.org">cmilligan@aha.org</a> Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:53:19 -0600 Policy Statements Health care leader H. Robert Cathcart helped shape AHA policy /news/headline/2017-02-27-health-care-leader-h-robert-cathcart-helped-shape-aha-policy H. Robert Cathcart, administrator at Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Hospital for 43 years until his retirement in 1991,&nbsp;and a health care leader who helped shape AHA policy, died earlier today in Waverly, a Philadelphia suburb. He was 92. Cathcart served as AHA chairman in 1976, received the association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1983 for his contributions to the health care field, and was inducted into the Health Care Hall of Fame in 1997. Known as a tireless worker and unapologetic perfectionist, Cathcart left an indelible mark both on historic Pennsylvania hospital – founded in 1751 as the country’s first major hospital – and on health care nationally. He chaired AHA committees that grappled with nursing education policy and care for the poor, and led the search for an AHA president in 1985. He served as speaker of the AHA House of Delegates in 1977. That was a time when the AHA “increasingly acted as both a defender of hospital interests and an advocate of broader public values,” said a Jan. 20, 1998 Hospitals &amp; Health Network’s article on the AHA’s centennial. “[An AHA] committee in 1977 declared that the AHA is both a trade group and a public interest organization, a distinction that underscored increasing involvement in national health policy.” Interviewed in 1987 for an AHA oral history, he said one of a hospital leader’s primary tasks is to “create environments for change.” He said hospital leadership requires “Courage. Astute political knowledge. Lots of energy. And a recognition that you don’t solve problems by spending lots of money; you solve them by getting down and brainstorming.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack called Cathcart “one of the health care giants. Much of the AHA’s movement during the second half of the 20th century toward a vision of hospitals as grand instruments for community service, of pushing clinical services into the community beyond the walls of the hospital, had Bob Cathcart’s fingerprints all over it.”&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:54:00 -0600 Policy Statements