AHA participates in fourth annual Sanford Rural Health Summit

AHA leaders today participated in Sanford Health's fourth annual Summit on the Future of Rural Health Care in Sioux Falls, S.D. Bill Gassen, Sanford Health president and CEO, and AHA chair-elect designate, discussed the importance of hospital and health system leaders coming up with solutions to challenges threatening care access in rural areas, including geographic isolation, workforce shortages, financial challenges and aging populations. “With workforce shortages and evolving patient needs, we must think differently about how to reach patients and how to support our teams,” Gassen said. 

Following his opening address, Gassen moderated a fireside chat with AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack on the importance of advocacy and partnership among hospitals to tackle mounting challenges. Pollack discussed some of the AHA’s current priorities, including extensions for the enhanced premium tax credits, hospital-at-home and telehealth flexibilities, and delaying reductions to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital program. “That’s something that’s very important to us,” Pollack said about the EPTCs. “If we see a lot of low-income and middle-income people have to pay increased premiums — that's a big deal." 

During an afternoon session, Molly Smith, AHA group vice president of public policy analysis and development, participated in a panel on provider-led health plans. While discussing Medicare Advantage, Smith said that while lawmakers have a desire to preserve the program, concerns persist about pay differences between fee-for-service Medicare and MA. “Congress does remember occasionally that it originally set up this program thinking that it could actually be a cost containment to a certain extent,” Smith said. “And it has certainly not borne out that way, so there’s a lot of focus on that right now."