WASHINGTON (April 20, 2017) – The American Hospital Association (AHA) will present its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, to C. Duane Dauner, special adviser and former president and CEO of the California Hospital Association (CHA). This award recognizes significant lifetime contributions and service to health care institutions and associations. Dauner will receive the award at the ceremony on May 7 at the AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dauner served as president and CEO of CHA, the statewide leader representing nearly 400 hospitals and health systems in California, from 1985 to 2017. Previously he served as president and CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association from 1975 to 1985, and was the CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association from 1965-1975. During Dauner’s time at CHA, he was exceptionally active in national hospital and health care issues, serving on numerous AHA and American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) boards and committees, including the board of the Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care. In the past, he received ACHE’s highest honor, the Gold Medal Award, and was also recognized by the Partners in Care Foundation, National Health Foundation, UCLA and Health Care Executives of Southern California.
“Duane’s untiring commitment to advocacy and education helped spur advancements for the patients served by California hospitals and health systems,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “His dedication and leadership helped to establish practices that afforded hospitals and health systems with the necessary resources to provide quality care to their communities.”
Dauner is being honored this award for his dedication to the health and wellbeing of all Americans and the establishment of high quality, efficient, patient and community-centric hospital field. As the leader of CHA, he distinguished himself as a consensus builder with impeccable integrity. He played a major role in the development of the Affordable Care Act and in unifying CHA membership around its implementation. He also participated in the development of the California Medicaid reform policy option and in building an agreement between CHA and the state’s three regional hospital associations.
As a nationally known leader in health issues, Dauner’s leadership helped California hospitals and health systems implement quality health care for its patients, while maintaining a slow rate of health expenditure growth. Dauner’s commitment to patient safety and quality of care led CHA and its affiliated Regional Associations in 2013 to create the statewide Hospital Quality Institute (HQI), whose mission is to advance California as a national leader in patient safety and quality improvement.
Dauner received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wichita State University. Prior to his hospital association career, he was an assistant professor at Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas. His dedication to education continued throughout his career in the health care field. He has authored numerous articles and a book and has lectured at several California university graduate programs. Dauner is known for his work ethic and his willingness to mentor young professionals in the field.
Mr. Dauner’s AHA involvement dates back to 1979 serving on the Council on Federal Relations and then the AHA General Council. He served on the Ad Hoc Committee on Medicare PPS Equity in 1991, the AHA Board of Trustees (1993-1996); the Task Force on Wage Index (1998); the Task Force on Medicaid (2002-2003 and 2005-2006); advisory groups on Hospital Billing & Collection Practices (2003), Pay for Performance (2003), RAC (2007-2008), Medicaid (2007-2008) and Health Care Reform (2009-2010). He also was a member of the Allied Hospital Association Advisory Group on Health Reform Implementation (2010-2012) and the Allied Advisory Committee on Medicaid (2015-2015).
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About the AHA
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.
