AHA Stat Blog

Medicare Advantage plans provide essential health insurance coverage for approximately 22 million Americans, or about one-third of all Medicare beneficiaries.

A recent AHA survey of hospitals and health systems found that 89% of respondents experienced an increase in payment denials over the past three years, and 51% reported experiencing a “significant” increase in denials.

Workplace violence spurred AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence advisory group to create a framework to support hospitals’, health systems’ and security leaders’ efforts to safeguard staff and patients, writes Mary Beth Kingston, R.N., chair of the group, chief nurse officer at Advocate Aurora Health and AHA Board member. Read how this new framework employs the four critical pillars necessary for implementing comprehensive violence mitigation strategies: trauma support, a culture of safety, violence intervention and risk mitigation.

Working in health care delivery can be stressful and tiring under normal circumstances. And the COVID-19 pandemic has exerted incredible pressures on the emotional and physical well-being of our health care professionals. 

Cybercrimes directed against hospitals and health systems have been on a massive upswing worldwide for several years, accelerating even more during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hospitals and health systems must move from “doing digital” to “being digital” to compete in a rapidly evolving market. AVIA, a leading digital transformation partner for health systems, designed the “4 big moves” to provide a road map for hospitals and health systems looking to embrace digital and emerge as leaders in health care.

Pandemic fatigue is real for many in our communities, but with flu season starting, now is not the time to let up. This year’s flu season could be extremely challenging for our communities and our hospital teams. Fortunately, we have a vaccine to protect almost everyone ages 6 months and older.

Hospitals and health systems put the health and welfare of their patients first. For some of the nation’s largest commercial health insurers, unfortunately, that is not always the case.

When we speak about hospitals and community benefit, it’s often a story focused on numbers. But it’s always about the people we serve. 

Getting all health care personnel vaccinated against COVID-19 is the right thing to do to keep patients, staff and communities safe. Using a federal regulatory approach to achieve this important goal introduces new challenges that the AHA is working to address. 

On this episode, I discuss emergency preparedness, caregiver resiliency and health equity — all through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic — with Fritz Francois, M.D., chief medical officer and patient safety officer at New York University Langone Health and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

The optimism of early summer that we were turning the corner on COVID-19 has been replaced with hard reality. The pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future, affecting not only our nation’s health, but also hospitals’ and health systems’ ability to improve it. 

News coverage continues to show that many hospitals have been stretched beyond capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each wave has brought incredible pressure on our health care workforce, and the physical and emotional exhaustion is leading to ever greater staff shortages at hospitals. 

For nearly 20 grueling months, hospitals and health systems – and their steadfast front-line caregivers – have risen to the incredible challenges caused by COVID-19. 

In a new blog, Kurt Hoppe, M.D., faculty member of the Mayo Clinic and member of the AHA’s Post-acute Steering Committee, explains the importance of post-acute care providers in the nation’s COVID-19 response and recovery, as well as the newest updates to the post-acute care payment model plan — of which AHA has several concerns.

A new report from the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) once again tries to obfuscate the issue of sky-rocketing drug prices by choosing to blame hospitals rather than the drug companies who set the prices and enjoy double-digit profits at the expense of patients and the providers who serve them. 

Ahead of National Physician Suicide Awareness Day, on Sept. 17, read how health care workers, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, faced elevated rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, in this blog by J. Corey Feist, co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. Feist, Dr. Breen’s brother-in-law, discusses this terrifying reality and shares several resources to support the mental well-being of health care workers.

More school-age children have returned to in-person learning during the last few weeks. More employees are returning to their workplaces. Sports stadiums are filling with spectators again, and theaters and concert venues are welcoming back audiences. 

It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed since Americans watched in shock and horror the events that unfolded in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. 

Come January 1, 2022, patients will be protected from certain types of unexpected medical bills.  America’s hospitals and health systems strongly support these new patient protections that are included in the No Surprises Act.