As 2024 comes to a close, it’s a good time to pause to reflect on the work we’ve done together to help improve the lives of all Californians.
Over the past 12 months, the California Hospital Association and your teams have worked tirelessly on behalf of the people and communities you serve — to make sure hospital care does not fall by the wayside in the minds of policymakers not only at the state Capitol, but also in Washington, D.C.
To recall just a few of the ways we pressed for better patient care in 2024:
- Delaying federal Medicaid disproportionate share hospital cuts for the entire year, and extending federal telehealth and hospital-at-home programs
- Holding insurance companies that are focused on the bottom line accountable for their responsibilities to patients and providers by filing a lawsuit against Anthem
- Advancing a bill to extend the 2030 seismic deadline all the way to the governor’s desk without a single “no” vote, laying the foundation for relief at the right time
- Delivering financial support to hospitals in excess of $25 billion via a modified health care spending target from the Office of Health Care Affordability, the hospital fee program, and the renewed managed care organization tax from the passage of Proposition 35
This progress was hard-fought, and there will be more difficult battles ahead, with changes to the composition of the state Legislature and a new federal administration that has stated its intent to make significant changes to health care policy.
If there’s anything to take from the work in 2024 as we look to the year ahead, it’s that our relationships are what sustain us and strengthen us. The partnership among our regional associations and the Hospital Quality Institute, the collaboration with your organizations, and the education and support we provide to legislators and their staff — all of these are special and mean we can do great things.
As we close this year and look to the next, we remain grateful for your trust, partnership, and shared goals for a stronger and healthier California.
May you have peace, respite, and love this holiday season — and return in 2025 ready, as we are, to work together on making sure hospitals can always be there to serve people in need.
