Issue Brief

The American Hospital Association (AHA) publishes Issue Briefs on policy and advocacy topics that are priorities for hospitals and health systems.

The American Hospital Association’s Hospitals Against Violence (HAV) Advisory Group developed the Building a Safe Workplace and Community framework to guide health care leaders in their efforts to prevent and mitigate violence.
This issue brief lays out the key components of effective online tools used by hospitals and health systems to help patients understand their potential out-of-pocket costs and highlights several different approaches providers have taken.
This issue brief, the third of four in the series, examines how hospitals’ violence mitigation efforts can fit effectively into an organization’s culture of safety strategy.
Unparalleled workforce shortages, negative margins and increasing labor expenses are creating multiple challenges for hospitals and health systems — but integrating physical and behavioral health services can reduce the total cost of care, improve outcomes and improve workforce satisfaction.
The American Hospital Association’s Hospitals Against Violence (HAV) initiative hosted the American Society for Health Care Risk Management (ASHRM) for a facilitated dialogue to explore challenges and current strategies to mitigate the risk of violence. The discussion fostered an exchange of ideas…
Patients requiring additional care after a hospitalization — such as skilled nursing, behavioral health or therapy-at-home — face growing delays in accessing that care. Delays in discharges as patients move through the continuum of care can cause harm to patients’ health outcomes and can impact…
AHA's Issue briefs frame the issue of affordability and can be used by hospitals and health systems to initiate conversations with stakeholders in their communities.
Hospitals and health systems are where the most complex care is provided for ill and injured patients. Yet spending on inpatient and outpatient care has grown more slowly than spending on other health services. Hospitals and health systems have worked hard to provide the best value to patients and…
Key Findings CMS’ new star ratings methodology preserves some year-to-year stability, but ratings remain volatile for hospitals reporting fewer measures. Under CMS’ new peer grouping approach, 74% of hospitals are scored on all five measure g