Discussions at this week’s American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board 9 meeting will delve into several timely and weighty issues for hospitals in California and nationwide.
For decades, the nation’s nine regional policy boards have served as vital opportunities to convene hospital leaders to surface concerns that affect all hospitals, identify needs unique to the region, and support the development of policy ideas and positions. Many thanks to the California hospital leaders who serve on our regional policy board. Along with myself and the CEOs of California’s three Regional Associations, we are joined by:
- Chad Lefteris, UCI Health President and CEO
- Donna Hefner, Sierra View Medical Center President and CEO
- Elaine Batchlor, MD, MLK Community Healthcare CEO
- Bryan Croft, Executive Vice President, Hospital Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and CEO, Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital
- Alice Issai, Adventist Health Southern California Network President
- Todd Suntrapak, Valley Children’s Healthcare President and CEO
- Anna Blair, Marshall Board member
At a time when it’s critical to be aligned at all levels — local, state, and federal, we appreciate the partnership and policy collaboration that AHA leads working with state hospital associations.
This week, the policy board will be taking a close look at affordability, at the same time Congress will be holding hearings probing hospitals why the cost of health care is so high and what hospitals can and should do to ensure care is affordable. At the state level, this issue is playing out via the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA), which has placed an onerous cap on how much hospital spending on care can grow each year — all while ignoring the impact of that cap on both access to and quality of care. We continue to work through our lawsuit against OHCA for ignoring meaningful portions of state law that require protections for access, quality, and equity.
Another important topic this week is drug pricing, where large pharmaceutical companies continue to attack, in every way possible, the invaluable 340B discount drug program — a more than 30-year-old program that has been time-tested to deliver significant benefits for vulnerable Californians. The program has enabled hospitals to use the reduced costs for medications to not only pass along savings to vulnerable populations, but also to invest in programs that expand access to care and provide vital services unavailable elsewhere — services like low- or no-cost medications, mobile health care clinics, mental health services, HIV clinics, asthma management programs, and more.
As the 340B program is nationwide, this discussion is critical as AHA refines its strategy in an effort to protect and preserve the program.
We’ll also be discussing data privacy and interoperability, hospital price transparency, workforce issues, and more.
As we work through these and other issues, the regional policy board meetings serve as a key reminder that your state and federal associations cannot create a better environment for hospitals without your help. We rely on your expertise and creativity to drive the best possible outcomes with state and federal policymakers.
