AHA leaders kick off 2025 Annual Meeting

May 05, 2025 - 05:20 PM
Past and current AHA Chairs

The 2025 AHA Annual Membership Meeting began May 5 with Joanne Conroy, M.D., president and CEO of Dartmouth Health and 2024 AHA board chair, discussing the importance of delivering care as hospitals and health systems face significant challenges, including potential spending cuts and harmful changes to Medicaid.

“Now is our call to action,” Conroy said. “This is the time and this is the place to use our voices and experiences to fight for the causes we all agree on and care about, making our patients healthier, making our communities healthier and making this country healthier.”

Conroy introduced Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health and 2025 AHA board chair, who talked about the importance of driving fundamental change to the country’s health care system, while also protecting key programs such as Medicaid and driving innovation to improve health care.

“Instead of continuing to patch a system that was built for the world of 1965, let's build a system that works for the world of 2065,” Freese Decker said.

At the opening plenary session, AHA president and CEO Rick Pollack acknowledged the many challenges facing hospitals and health systems and the advocacy priorities AHA has developed to support hospitals and their communities. 

“If there is one simple message that your legislators need to hear right now, it comes down to ‘no harmful cuts to the Medicaid program,’” Pollack said, encouraging attendees to connect with their legislators on Capitol Hill, especially as committees are expected to soon mark up the budget reconciliation bill. Pollack highlighted the need to keep the people that hospitals and health systems serve in front of politicians and policymakers. “Back it up with a story — your story — of how these cuts would hurt the patients and communities you serve.”

In addition to protecting Medicaid, Pollack discussed rejecting so-called site-neutral payments, preserving the 340B program, and extending the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits that enable millions of Americans to buy affordable private health insurance.

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