About Affordability
Health care is a basic human need, one that Californians rely on to live, grow, and prosper. Unfortunately, the cost of care has become too high for many working families. For years, California’s hospitals have made headway toward controlling costs. To ensure care for every Californian, the entire health care field must tighten its belt — insurance companies, physicians, labor unions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and more.
Improving affordability is a priority for California hospitals — but with nearly two-thirds of health care spending occurring outside of hospitals, solving this challenge will take a combined effort from the entire health care system. To move toward our shared goals of affordable, equitable, and high-quality health care, hospitals work closely with the Office of Health Care Affordability.
CHA Urges OHCA to Revise Proposed Penalty Structure
What’s happening: Last week, CHA submitted a letter urging the Office of Health Care Affordability to modify its penalty structure proposal, calling attention to the exorbitant potential penalties that would undermine OHCA’s charge to maintain access and quality in its pursuit of affordability.
Hospitals’ High-Stakes Game — and What It Means for Patient Care
During last week’s CHA Board meeting, members were joined by Ken Kaufman, founder of the nationally renowned health care financial consulting firm Kaufman Hall, for a candid and enlightening conversation about the future of hospital care.
CHA Hosts Legislator Briefing on OHCA Advocacy
What’s happening: This week, CHA hosted more than 50 lawmakers and legislative staff for a briefing focused on the Office of Health Care Affordability’s (OHCA’s) work to date, hospitals’ advocacy efforts, and the impact OHCA’s policies will have on health care access statewide.
The Other Half of the Affordability Conversation
A pair of recent articles by nationally renowned health care policy experts — one in Health Affairs and one in The New York Times — underscores points that CHA has been making for years around the unintended consequences of artificially capping spending on health care services without adequately considering the impact on access to care, jobs, and patients’ experience.
Make Your Voices Heard on OHCA, Artificial Intelligence
Through the end of this month, hospitals have a brief window to elevate their voices on two critical issues that could be decided in a matter of weeks.
CHA Urges OHCA to Protect All Health Care Workers
What’s happening: This week, CHA commented on the Office of Health Care Affordability’s (OHCA’s) draft regulations implementing the nonsupervisory organized labor cost adjustment to the spending targets. In the letter, CHA stresses that the proposal “falls short of the Legislature’s overarching goals and directives, fails the office’s policy imperative to treat all workers equitably, and creates a policy that is largely unworkable...
Urge OHCA to Reject Penalties That Endanger Patient Care
Hospital Field Urges OHCA Board to Reject Ruinous Penalties
What's happening: Organizations representing nearly 150 hospitals wrote or commented at this week’s Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board meeting asking the board to reject OHCA’s proposed penalties, which could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars for even a single-year violation of the spending targets. Hospitals shared the disastrous consequences such exorbitant...
2026 Hospital Finance & Reimbursement Conference
October 19 & 20 | Sacramento As the health care landscape continues to evolve, hospital leaders face growing operational and regulatory challenges. Join CHA and finance executives from across California for an in-person conference examining the latest state and federal policy developments impacting hospitals today. Topics will include Medicare and Medi-Cal financing, state-directed payments, financial...
Hospitals Must Weigh in on Penalties, Updated Market Oversight Rules at June 24 OHCA Board Meeting
What's happening: The Office of Health Care Affordability’s (OHCA) board meets next week to discuss the proposed spending target penalties, draft changes to the cost and market impact review (CMIR) regulations, and health care spending trends from 2023-2024. Hospitals’ help is needed to push back against the exorbitant penalties proposed by OHCA; see CHA’s alert for guidance...