Fact Sheets

The American Hospital Association (AHA) fact sheets on important issues facing hospitals and health systems. Fact Sheets define the terms of issues facing hospitals and health systems and provide in-depth explanations of the AHA's position on these issues.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quickly moved to waive a number of regulatory requirements. These waivers provided hospitals and health systems with critical flexibilities to manage what has been a prolonged and unpredictable pandemic.
The unified post-acute care (PAC) payment system required by the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014 is not on track to protect access to medically necessary PAC services.
The following are highlights of provisions included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that may affect hospitals and health systems and the communities they serve.
More than 20 months after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the U.S., the pandemic continues to affect communities across the country and has pushed our health care system to the brink, with the latest surge from the delta variant raising new challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in historic challenges for hospitals and health systems and the communities they serve. This has placed unprecedented stress on the entire health care system and its financing.
The No Surprises Act established new patient protections against balance billing in certain circumstances, as well as put into place a number of other provisions that will change how providers and health plans engage with patients and each other with respect to price and coverage transparency, as…
It is imperative that Congress invest in America’s hospitals and health systems to ensure that the nation’s health care needs can be met today and into the future. The AHA supports investments in infrastructure, such as the health care workforce, behavioral health, the accessibility and…
Some employers are moving away from offering traditional coverage with a provider network and instead are using reference-based pricing for some or all of services they cover. Under reference-based pricing, the employer (supported by a third party administrator [TPA] or other vendor) pays a set a…
The AHA urges Congress and the Biden Administration to prioritize funding for the infrastructure that supports rural hospitals and the communities they serve. Key areas of investment include physical infrastructure and “right-sizing,” capacity to enable digital health, workforce support and access…