aha-member-value-1119-spreads

We are AHA.

2019 The Value of
AHA Membership

ACCESS | HEALTH | INNOVATION | AFFORDABILITY
As we prepare for 2020, the American Hospital Association is working
harder than ever on behalf of the nation’s hospitals, health systems, and
the patients and families they serve.
No other organization can deliver for your organization like the AHA.
Whether it’s via our strong relationships with key legislators, policy-
makers and others on the Hill or the new programs we’re developing to
help your organization transform, our work is dedicated to helping you
prepare for what lies ahead during this pivotal time.

ACCESS Strengthening relationships on Capitol H
In addition to the daily Hill visits conducted by
We work hard to shape the conversations that impact the team members, hundreds of AHA members m
essential access you provide to health care for Americans. visits to Washington this year for the AHA An
Meeting and Advocacy Days to support them in
Modernizing the Stark and Anti-kickback Rules. As long with their legislators, where they made their ca
advocated by the AHA, the Department of Health and Human
Services Oct. 9 proposed modernizing the Stark Law on physician action in support of America’s hospitals.
self-referral and the Anti-kickback Statute to remove unnecessary
roadblocks to the kind of collaboration and coordination that American Hospital Association
enables caregivers to meet all of their patients’ health care needs.
Specifically, on Stark, CMS proposes creating new permanent
exceptions to the law for value-based arrangements and certain
other arrangements, such as donations of certain cybersecurity
technology. The exceptions would apply whether the care was
provided to Medicare or other patients.

On the Anti-kickback Statute, HHS’ Office of Inspector General
proposes three new safe harbors for remuneration exchanged
between or among eligible participants in a value-based
arrangement. It also proposes new safe harbors for remuneration
provided in connection with patient engagement; the donation of
cybersecurity technology and services; electronic health records;
outcomes-based payments; telehealth for in-home dialysis; CMS-
sponsored models and Medicare accountable care organizations;
and an expanded safe harbor for local transportation. Final rules
may be released in early 2020.

Rejecting site-neutral payment policies so that legitimate
differences between care sites is recognized. We received a
favorable ruling on our lawsuit, filed against the Department of
Health and Human Services saying that the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services exceeded its statutory authority when it reduced
payments for certain providers.

Achieving restoration of cuts to 340B hospitals. Our lawsuit
stating that HHS’s reduction in reimbursement rates for 340B drugs
was unlawful was reaffirmed by the U.S. District Court, and HHS
was instructed to remedy the impact of these harmful funding cuts.

Reducing the Backlog of Medicare appeals. In response to
our litigation, the U.S. District Court reinstated an order that will
required HHS eliminate the appeals backlog by 19% by the end
of this year, with the entire backlog completely wiped out by the
end of FY 2021. And the judge is holding HHS accountable through
regular required updates.

For more, visit aha.org/value.

www.aha.org 2

Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care.
Galvanizing the support of millions to protect America’s

health care. Through our work with the Coalition to
Protect America’s Health Care, we reached more than
2 million supporters. This engaged group is essential

to our efforts to amplify our messages to Congress
about the need to keep coverage and care available to

all Americans.

protecthealthcare.org/members

Hill. Driving the future of rural health care. This summer,
AHA the AHA launched the Future of Rural Health Care

made Task Force to help shape rural health care delivery and
nnual ensure access to quality care in rural America. This task
n visits force will help rural providers identify future trends and
ase for
emerging strategies, and develop new care delivery
and stable financial models. The group explores flexible

solutions that integrate population health approaches
and preventive health services to improve health

outcomes, and prevent high-cost utilization of services.
They also address the role that hospitals should play
as a community convener and partner to leverage the
collaborative nature of rural communities.

AHAPAC. The American Hospital Association Political
Action Committee (AHAPAC) is the best means for
hospitals and health systems to sustain a unified,
national voice in the 2020 congressional elections.
With an annual fundraising goal of $2.3 million,
partnerships with the state hospital associations and
commitment from our leaders, AHAPAC supports
federal candidates who will champion the health care

agenda and will have a visible presence in 2020. Learn
more at ahapac.org or contact Shari Dexter at
[email protected] or (202) 626-2338.

2019 The Value of AHA Membership 3 www.aha.org

AHA Team Training delivered its curriculum
and support to members on the front lines
of care delivery through its popular courses,
webinars and national conference.

aha.org/team-training

Now in its third year, our important Hospitals Against O
Violence initiative provides resources to help hospitals nam
address youth violence prevention, workforce violence Lead
dev
prevention and human trafficking. Our third annual recor
national HAVhope Day of Awareness generated great
awareness, with engagement increasing seven-fold on a

both Twitter and Facebook.

aha.org/hav

The AHA Physician Alliance is bringing new
resources and tools to the growing community of
clinician leaders within our member hospitals and
health systems, including seminars on burnout,

assessment tools and playbooks.

aha.org/physicians

www.aha.org 4 American Hospital Association

Our nurse leadership group unveiled a new HEALTH
me, the American Organization for Nursing
dership, to reflect its broader commitment to The AHA is collaborating side by side with our members in a
veloping leaders in the field, and celebrated a relentless pursuit of improvement in health and health care.
rd-setting meeting that drew more than 4,200
attendees, up 30% over the previous year. We are establishing new initiatives and collaboratives in
support of the journey toward higher-quality care delivery for all
aonl.org individuals:

2019 The Value of AHA Membership Age-friendly Health Systems. Designed to support the
delivery of care for older adults, the goal of this initiative
is to rapidly spread improvement to 20% of U.S.
hospitals and medical practices by 2020. The AHA is
joined in this effort by The John A. Hartford Foundation,
the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the
Catholic Health Association of the United States.

The Hospital Community Cooperative. A group of
hospital and community organization teams that are
developing health and wellness initiatives that focus
on social determinants of health with measurable
results. Supported in part by the Aetna Foundation, this
initiative is designed to address all aspects of a healthy
community, including housing, health care, food and
transportation.

TAKEheart Cardiac Rehabilitation. Powered by the
AHA Center for Health Innovation, this program invites
our members to participate in the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality’s new initiative to increase the use
of cardiac rehabilitation. Currently, only 20% of eligible
patients are routinely referred to cardiac rehab; if that
number increased to 70%, it could save approximately
25,000 lives and prevent 180,000 hospital admissions
every year.

Our Hospital Improvement and Innovation Network,
which involves more than 1,600 hospitals and 34 state
hospital associations, has contributed significantly to
the goal of reducing all-cause patient harm by 20% and
readmissions by 12% by the end of 2019.

A new partnership with the Center to Advance
Palliative Care is asking our members to identify and
address the needs of patients needing extra support
and to build care plans that address both the clinical and
emotional needs of the whole patient.

For more, visit aha.org/advancing-clinical-care.

5 www.aha.org

INNOVATION Leaders of tomorrow will get a boost from partic
in our Next Generation Leaders Fellowship, a
We marked one year since the announcement of our agenda long program that pairs emerging leaders with m
for innovation and transformation, which harnesses the to develop an action plan to drive a transformat
resources of the entire association and AHA membership to
support the field on the path of transformation. project within their organization.
aha.org/nextgenfellowship
Since its launch in September 2018, the AHA Center for Health
Innovation has released a wealth of new tools, programs and AHA MetricVuTM
initiatives, including

Market Scan – a weekly “must read” on the latest
developments driving transformation in health care.

A re-invigorated AHA Leadership Summit that featured
new learning formats and opportunities for connection to
promote a revolution in thinking among health care leaders
in pursuit of success in this environment of constant
disruption.

New data tools and assessments that allow you to see
your organization’s comparative performance on a range of
measures.

The AHA Design Studio – fueled by the imperative to
accelerate and lead transformational solutions to complex
challenges facing the field, Its goal is to bring members
together in unique collaborations to find solutions that can
be replicated at scale. The first three areas of focus, as
supported by the AHA Board of Trustees, are Behavioral
Health, EHR Usability and Risk. Expect more information
on this work early in 2020.

We’re also working to build innovation capacity within the
membership by offering opportunities for both seasoned and
emerging leaders to come together to learn new ways of problem-
solving and breaking down barriers to innovation.

And we’re continuing to deliver innovation on the front lines.
The AHA’s professional membership groups offer world-class
professional development to thousands of health care leaders
through widely attended conferences, webinars, online courses,
toolkits and more.

For more, visit aha.org/center.

www.aha.org It’s never been easier to leverage the nation’s most trusted hospital and health syst
understanding of the current environment and your opportun

Live, interactive dashboards present key metrics:

6 American Hospital Association

We’re fueling the spread of new ideas through and the
programs like the AHA Innovation Challenge, and Health Care
a Start Up Competition to recognize, reward and Workforce

promote some of the best thinking in the field. How hospitals and health systems can
use artificial intelligence to build the
aha.org/center/innovation-capacity/challenge health care workforce of the future

INSIGHTS

cipation The Center for Health Innovation produces regular
a year- Market Insights reports on topics – such as telehealth,
mentors
tional behavioral health and artificial intelligence – that are
driving where health care is headed next.

aha.org/market-insights

New data tools, such as AHA MetricVuTM, allow you
to benchmark your organization’s performance against

your peers on a variety of metrics, including quality
performance and readmissions.

ahadata.com/metricvu

tem data to improve your 7 www.aha.org
nities.

2019 The Value of AHA Membership

Screening for Social Needs: A new guide to screening for social needs
via patient engagement was released to help
Guiding Care Teams to Engage Patients hospitals and health systems facilitate sensitive
conversations about nonmedical needs that may

be a barrier to good health.

aha.org/value-initiative

Because the answer to the challenge of affordability The AHA’s
Engineering
requires the involvement of multiple stakeholders,
facilities mo
we’ve been convening groups of thought leaders©2019 American Hospital Association | www.aha.org 1 Dashboard.
checking ene
from the provider, technology and other industries fitness tracke
only take 15
for regional Executive Forums that examine how to
typically r
improve value through consumer-driven innovation
en
and collaboration. These engaging sessions, held

this past year in Atlanta, Boston and Denver, drew

hundreds of hospital C-suite leaders and other

stakeholders to the table.

Join the AHA and leading hospitals an health
systems from your region and across the country

at the AHA Executive Forums to explore
opportunities and challenges for driving innovation

and value through collaboration with providers,
payers, employers and community partners.

aha.org/education-events/aha-executive-forum

www.aha.org 8 American Hospital Association

s American Society for Health Care AFFORDABILITY
released a new tool to help health care
onitor energy use: the Energy to Care As overall health care spending continues to rise to meet the needs
The clean and simple interface makes of an aging America, consumers’ concerns around the affordability of
ergy use as easy as tracking steps on a health care continue to grow.
er. With use of the dashboard, it should
minutes a day to impact the costs that The AHA is meeting the challenge of affordability head on by working to:
represent half of a facility’s budget.
Rein in skyrocketing drug prices
nergytocare.org/dashboard
Improve access to quality health coverage

Make information available on price and quality

Invest in public health to improve overall health and well-being

Treat the whole person – increase access to behavioral health
care

Reduce red tape from government regulation

Remove outdates laws that impede communication and
collaboration between hospitals and other providers

Now entering its third year, The Value Initiative provides education,
resources and tools drawn from the work of our members as they
seek to decrease health care costs while improving quality and patient
experiences.

Our Members in Action series contains a growing repository of case
studies, issue briefs, podcasts and videos all designed to share the
outstanding work of our members on this important issue. Learn more at
aha.org/theValueInitiative.

We’re also making sure that our members are part of the conversation.

For example, we’re pushing back on the insurance industry’s claim that
hospitals are responsible for rising costs with a high-impact ad that set the
record straight by showing how insurance price growth has skyrocketed
while providers have held price growth down.

View the message, and our solutions at aha.org/affordability.

2019 The Value of AHA Membership 9 www.aha.org

MEMBERSHIP FEBRUARY 2-5, 20

Get more from your membership. ARIZONA GRAND RESOR
PHOENIX, AZ
We hope you are already taking advantage of the many
benefits available to you and your organization as an AHA AHA Rural Health Care Leadership Confere
member. Be sure to visit the new Member Center at February 2-5 · Phoenix, AZ
aha.org/membercenter, which contains links to the most
popular assets and resources on the site. The educational event of choice for rural leaders
want to exchange ideas and learn best practice
Stay ahead of the issues.
can ensure a more sustainable future.
AHA Today. Our daily e-newsletter brings you the news, aha.org/ruralconference
insights and resources you need six days a week.
aha.org/news Member Activity
Dashboard
AHA Market Scan. A weekly e-newsletter from the
AHA Center for Health Innovation shares the latest Watch for information in 2020 on your
intelligence on developments connected to health care AHA Activity Dashboard, a quick and co
disruption and transformation. aha.org/center
summary of the ways your organizatio
Market Insights. In-depth, issue-focused reports on the connecting to the Association.
trends and forces driving the future of health care, such
as telehealth, artificial intelligence and more. aha.org/
center/Market-Insights

Advancing Health Podcast. Listen on the go to this
series that features conversations with hospital and
health system leaders. Look for new episodes from your
mobile device by using SoundCloud, or visit aha.org/
advancing-health-podcast.

Engage and inform your board.

The Presentation Center. A valuable library of
presentations and talking points on top health care
issues – fully customizable for your use.
aha.org/data-and-insights/presentation-center

Trustee Insights. From succession planning to advice on
building a population health strategy, valuable tools and
education for trustees can be found at trustees.aha.org.

www.aha.org 10 American Hospital Association

020 Cybersecurity Resources

RT & SPA AHA members can access a wealth of content and
advice designed to help you address the very real
cyber threats that pose a growing threat to the nation’s Annual Membership Meeting
hospitals, health systems and the patients they serve.
April 19-21, 2020 | Washington, D.C.
aha.org/advocacy/leveraging-technology/
cybersecurity

ence AHA Annual Membership Meeting

s who April 19-21 · Washington, DC
es that
Take advantage of the premier hospital advocacy
event of the year, which brings members together
with leaders in the fields of politics, health policy
and media to focus on the issues affecting the field

during this critical election year.
aha.org/annualconference

r My AHA Leadership Summit
oncise
on is July 19-21 · San Diego, CA

Powered by the AHA Center for Health Innovation,
this event offers executives, emerging leaders and
other thought leaders from the field the chance to
share and learn disruptive strategies and unexpected

solutions for success.
aha.org/summit

2019 The Value of AHA Membership 11 www.aha.org

Chicago Office:
155 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60606
312.422.3000

Washington Office:
800 10th Street, NW
Two CityCenter, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20001
202.638.1100

www.aha.org

@AHAhospitals; @AHAadvocacy

facebook.com/AHAhospitals

@AHAhospitals

linkedin.com/company/american-hospital-association

©2019 American Hospital Association
November 2019