AHA Press Releases

The American Hospital Association (AHA), in partnership with the state hospital associations, today awarded 52 individuals with the American Hospital Association Grassroots Champion Award. As a 2012 Grassroots Champion these individuals are being recognized for exceptional leadership in generating grassroots and community activity in support of a hospital's mission.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) will honor four hospital volunteer programs with its Hospital Awards for Volunteer Excellence (HAVE). The AHA HAVE Awards Program is in its 29th year and highlights the extraordinary efforts of volunteer programs and the positive impact their contributions have on the patients, hospitals, health systems and communities they serve.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today presented the Justin Ford Kimball Innovators Award to Thomas S. Nesbitt, M.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Technologies and Alliances, and director, Center for Health and Technology, University of California (UC) Davis Health System in Sacramento, Calif. The award recognizes people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions in health care delivery and financing.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Larry McAndrews, retired president and CEO, National Association of Children's Hospitals (NACHRI), will be awarded its 2012 Board of Trustees Award. The award is presented to individuals or groups who have made substantial and noteworthy contributions to the work of the AHA.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Larry S. Gage, retired president, National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH), will be awarded its 2012 Board of Trustees Award.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today presented two federal hospital leaders with awards recognizing their outstanding service in the health care field.

While we support ensuring that physicians will not see their Medicare payments reduced, we are extremely disappointed that once again Congress is putting seniors' access to hospital services in jeopardy through arbitrary reductions to hospitals.

Bruce Schwartz, M.D., deputy chairman and professor of clinical psychiatry of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y., and CEO, president and medical director of University Behavioral Associates and MBCIPA, is the 2012 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Services.

A new report by Ernst & Young found that not-for-profit hospitals spend an average of 11.3 percent of their total expenses on benefits to their communities. Starting in 2009, not-for-profit hospitals were required to file Schedule H with the Internal Revenue Service to show the community benefit they provide.

The Coalition to Protect America's Health Care today launched a national advertising campaign to urge Congress not to cut Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospital care.

In honor of its broad-based efforts to improve the lives of the most vulnerable members of its community, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) in Windsor, Vt., is the recipient of the 2011 Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service, one of the most esteemed community service honors in healthcare.

An updated analysis by Tripp Umbach, a firm specializing in conducting economic impact studies, finds that an additional 83,000 jobs could be lost if the Medicare cuts to hospital care included in H.R. 3630 (legislation extending the Social Security tax holiday, unemployment insurance and the physician fix), passed by the House, are implemented.

Fred Rothstein, M.D., president of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, will lead the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Metropolitan Hospitals as chair of its 24-member governing council for 2012.

Staci Covey, president of Guthrie's Troy Community Hospital in Troy, Pa., will lead the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Small or Rural Hospitals in 2012.

Patricia A. Warner, executive director of the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospitals in Ann Arbor, Mich. is the 2012 chair of the American Hospital Association's Section for Maternal and Child Health.

America's hospitals are very disappointed with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) recommendations today regarding changes in Medicare payment to hospitals.

Patricia Ostaszewski, chief executive officer (CEO), HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Toms River, N.J. is the 2012 chair of the American Hospital Associations (AHA) Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Kimberly McNally will be chair and Katherine Keene, will be chair-elect for the AHA's 2012 Committee on Governance (COG).

Warner L. Thomas, president and COO, Ochsner Health System in New Orleans is the 2012 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Health Care Systems, a constituency section representing health systems across the country that provide guidance in AHA's policy development and governance.

The Coalition to Protect America's Health Care tomorrow will launch on December 14, 2011, a national print campaign to urge Congress not to cut billions of dollars from hospital care to pay for a physician payment fix.