Legislation and Legislative Advocacy

The American Hospital Association (AHA) shares resources on health care legislation being considered by the U.S. House and Senate and legislative advocacy opportunities for hospitals and health systems.

Nearly 70 organizations, including the AHA, today urged congressional leaders to advance the House-passed Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness & Advancing Innovation Act (H.R. 269), legislation that would reauthorize hospital and other federal emergency preparedness programs.
As our country works to expand health coverage and improve access to care, “Medicare for All” is getting a lot of attention. There are many different flavors so it’s worth diving a little deeper into what “Medicare for All” really means. A new report released on Tuesday shows exactly what one…
Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and John Katko, R-N.Y., today introduced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019 (H.R. 1763) that would add up to 15,000 Medicare-funded residency positions over five years, similar to an AHA-supported bill (S. 348) introduced last month in the Senate.   
Legislative proposals for a Medicare public option could negatively affect patient access to care and significantly reduce payments to hospitals, AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels said during a panel discussion today at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Health Policy Conference in…
The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today held a hearing on the president’s fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services.
President Trump today submitted to Congress his budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2020. The budget request, which is not binding, proposes hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions to Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years. The budget request also contains a number of provisions related to drug…
President Trump today submitted to Congress his budget request for fiscal year 2020.
A bipartisan group of 13 senators yesterday urged Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to initiate a rulemaking process to modernize 42 CFR Part 2 to allow safer, more effective and better-coordinated treatment for patients with substance use disorders.
The House of Representatives last night passed by voice vote bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the national network of Poison Control Centers.
The AHA and Federation of American Hospitals today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that allows False Claims Act whistleblowers to accuse a hospital or other defendant of fraud and proceed to discovery without articulating specific facts demonstrating the…