Pollack discusses challenges, opportunities for the field 

AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack July 16 opened the 2023 AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle discussing the similarities of hospitals to Seattle’s famous innovators solving a problem and improving a service, such as Amazon, Starbucks and Boeing.  
 
“Hospitals and their care teams are constantly driven to improve patient care. They are always searching for better, more efficient and effective ways to keep people healthy and restore a person’s health,” he said. 
 
Pollack also cited the challenges the hospital field faces, from workforce shortages to caring for the caregivers and inflation to cracks in the supply chain, unreliable government funding streams and inadequacies in the public health system. He shared how the AHA is working to stabilize the financial situation of America’s hospitals and health systems, strengthen the workforce, and secure their long-term ability to serve their communities.