AHA this week shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and the Federal Trade Commission additional perspective on a recent Wall Street Journal article suggesting hospitals were at the root of contract terms that could disadvantage consumers. Grassley recently asked the FTC to assess certain contracting provisions between insurers and hospital systems for anticompetitive behavior, citing the article.
 
“Your recent inquiry to the Federal Trade Commission provides us the opportunity to share with you and the FTC some of our views on why that article misconstrued the dynamics between hospitals and commercial health insurers as it pertains to contract negotiations,” AHA wrote. “The overwhelming majority of hospitals and health systems are not the drivers in contract negotiations with commercial health insurers. In addition, the contract provisions hospitals and health systems are able to secure in negotiations typically have procompetitive and pro-consumer purposes, such as enabling the hospital or health system to successfully offer value-based care alternatives or protecting the hospital and its patients from unwarranted denials. Moreover, the article’s suggestion that the rise in the cost of health care is attributable to these contract negotiations is not borne out by the fact that hospital prices are currently at historically low growth rates and spending for hospital services overall is declining as a percentage of national health expenditures.”

Related News Articles

Headline
The Healthcare Association of New York State Sept. 16 announced Bea Grause, R.N., its president and CEO, will retire in summer 2026. Grause was active for many…
Headline
The AHA’s Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development Aug. 21 announced Donna Teach, chief marketing and communications officer for Nationwide…
Headline
The American Organization for Nursing Leadership Aug, 15 announced that Stuart Downs, DNP, R.N., was elected as the 2026 president-elect of the AONL Board of…
Perspective
Public
The job description for the ideal health care leader in coming years might read something like this:Wanted: Bold, compassionate innovator who unites clinical…
Headline
The AHA’s Next Generation Leaders Fellowship July 29 announced its 36 fellows for the class of 2026, who will each work with mentors to address a specific…
Headline
AHA Chair-elect Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist, and AHA Immediate-past Chair Joanne Conroy, M.D., president and CEO of Dartmouth…