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Our Vision is of a society of healthy communities where
all individuals reach their highest potential for health
all individuals reach their highest potential for health
Research and Trends
Making Our Case
AHA studies support the advocacy efforts of the association and its member hospitals as they work to provide health care services to communities around the country. This section of the AHA website will provide you with the latest research and analysis of important and emerging trends in the hospital and health care field. AHA sponsors or conducts policy research in the areas of provider payment, limited-service hospitals, the cost of health care, information technology and other topics to assist members and policy makers in understanding issues critical to America’s hospitals.
Health and Hospital Trends
Every year AHA releases a series of reports that provide up to date information on both health and hospital trends. Data from various sources including the AHA Annual Survey is compiled and made available through our TrendWatch Chartbook. Other reports and surveys of hospital leaders are released throughout the year and provide a snapshot of issues like the workforce shortage, ED diversion, health care costs, disaster preparedness and other topics of interest to hospital members, policy makers and the media.
AHA Policy Research
AHA research reports examine key issues to inform the policy making process. These include the TrendWatch series, a periodic AHA publication that reports on the latest trends affecting hospitals and the health care system (now conducted in collaboration with Avalere Health* www.avalerehealth.net), as well as other AHA sponsored studies.
Featured Reports
Hospitals Continue to Feel Lingering Effects of the Economic Recession,
June 2010
Although the U.S. economy is beginning to show signs of recovery, hospitals continue to be adversely impacted by the lingering effects of the economic recession, according to a March/April 2010 survey of hospitals. The survey data reveals that patients continue to delay or forgo care as family budgets remain tight with 70 percent of hospitals reporting fewer patient visits and elective procedures. Exacerbating this trend, nearly nine in 10 hospitals reported an increase in care for which the hospital received no payment at all. Hospitals faced with such financial realities are making significant changes in an effort to weather the economic storm. Common options for hospitals have included cutting administrative costs, reducing staff and curtailing services. In fact, 89 percent of hospitals indicated that they have not added back staff or increased staff hours and 98 percent have not restored services or programs previously cut due to the downturn in the economy.
The Economic Contribution of Hospitals, June 2010
In 2008, America's hospitals treated 123 million people in their emergency departments, provided care for 624 million outpatients, performed 27 million surgeries, and delivered 4 million babies. Every year, hospitals provide vital health care services like these to millions of people in thousands of communities. However, the importance of hospitals to their communities extends far beyond health care. The health care sector is an economic mainstay, and hospitals provide stability and even growth during times of recession. Hospitals employ more than 5 million people and create over 2 trillion dollars of economic activity.
The State of America’s Hospitals — Taking the Pulse
Results of AHA Survey of Hospital Leaders — Chartpack, March/April 2010
The Road to Meaningful Use: What it Takes to Implement Electronic Health Record Systems in Hospitals, TrendWatch, April 2010
Policymakers and health care providers increasingly recognize health information technology (IT) as a tool for providing efficient, high-quality care. Today, hospitals and physicians use health IT to store health information electronically, facilitate clinical decision-making, streamline clinician workflows and monitor population health. Research suggests that these activities can facilitate more effective care and potentially lower long-term costs for the health care system.
Clinical Integration - The Key to Real Reform, TrendWatch, February 2010
Clinical integration holds the promise of greater quality and improved efficiency in delivering patient-centered care. Hospitals seeking greater clinical integration first need to overcome the legal hurdles presented by the antitrust, Stark, Civil Monetary Penalty and anti-kickback laws and the Internal Revenue Code. This TrendWatch explains what clinical integration is and examines its importance to reforming our delivery system. The report’s case studies demonstrate the range of clinically-integrated hospital initiatives in existence today and illustrate how arduous and challenging the legal barriers can be. The nation needs to ensure current laws and regulations do not impede our progress in improving care and care delivery for patients. Tackling the legal barriers to clinical integration is essential to allow hospitals, doctors and other health care providers to deliver on the promise of clinical integration.
Chart of legal barriers to clinical integration and proposed solutions
Uncompensated Hospital Care Cost Fact Sheet (pdf), November 2009
Each year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) publishes aggregate information on the level of uncompensated care delivered in U.S. hospitals. The data used to generate these numbers come from the AHA’s Annual Survey of Hospitals, which is the nation’s single most comprehensive source of hospital financial data. This fact sheet provides the definition of uncompensated care and technical information on how this figure is calculated on a cost basis. It also describes how the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) accounting changes to bad debt and free care are currently handled in the Survey to ensure continuity of uncompensated care numbers.
Underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid Fact Sheet (pdf), November 2009
Each year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) collects aggregate information on the payments and costs associated with care delivered to beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid by U.S. hospitals. The data used to generate these numbers comes from the AHA’s Annual Survey of Hospitals, which is the nation’s single most comprehensive source of hospital financial data. This fact sheet provides the definition of underpayment and technical information on how this figure is calculated on a cost basis for Medicare and Medicaid.
*Avalere Health provides objective analysis to support AHA policy development. As a research and consulting
organization, Avalere does not advocate for or endorse positions on specific policy issues.