Leading the Way Forward to Advance Health in America

Health care is changing rapidly. The rise of consumerism, the digital economy, precision medicine, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, new high-tech entrants to the health care sector and affordability pressures all serve as catalysts for change.

And America’s hospitals and health systems are leading the way forward. They continue to play an important role in serving our communities to meet today’s challenges and create a healthier tomorrow.

Over the past year, America’s hospitals:

• served more than 34 million people in the inpatient setting;
• employed more than 5 million people; and
• supported vulnerable populations through more than $38 billion in care — for which they received no payment.

Hospital doors will always be open for emergencies, sophisticated surgeries, advanced diagnostics and therapies. At the same time they are opening new doors to provide care within the community to help keep people healthy. They’re going beyond the four walls to meet patients where they are — whether through a mobile health clinic or a remote visit using telehealth.

In the face of increased pressure to reduce costs, hospitals and health systems continue to find new ways to transform the delivery system using innovation as a way to increase value and affordability.

Specifically, hospitals are redesigning how they deliver care. They are teaming up by creating and expanding coordinated systems of care that allow them to improve quality and lower costs by better synchronizing services through clinical teamwork. They are embracing new models that promote value and more effective care. And they are leveraging technology to advance patient health. The result: Better care, quality and outcomes for our families, friends and neighbors.

Hospitals — every single one of them — play the indispensable role of being the ultimate safety net in our society.

There simply is no place else in the health care system where the doors are always open —that benefits communities as much as America’s hospitals do.

In this rapidly changing world, millions of Americans can remain confident that hospitals and health systems are adapting and innovating every day to deliver access to the high-quality care they deserve.

America’s hospitals and health systems are working to improve the system we depend upon by saving lives, performing miracles and keeping people healthy. In other words: they’re advancing health in America.