AHA chairman calls on hospital leaders to continue to advance health in America

In a rapidly changing health care environment, all hospitals seek a path forward that “leads to better health outcomes, better services at lower cost,” AHA Chairman Jim Skogsbergh said Sunday, following his investiture at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C. “But how each of us gets to that destination will vary,” he told AHA members. As a recreational pilot, the president and CEO of Advocate Health Care in Downers Grove, IL, drew an analogy between pilots flying in unpredictable conditions and hospitals navigating in uncertain terrain. He said the AHA has the tools to help its members “land safely at our destination... [I]t lets us keep an eye on the instruments in front of us while also looking ahead to anticipate events on the near and far-off horizon.” Skogsbergh called on hospital and health system leaders to pledge themselves to “the continuing success of the AHA and to our vital mission of advancing the health of patients and communities throughout America.”