Fact Sheets

The American Hospital Association (AHA) fact sheets on important issues facing hospitals and health systems. Fact Sheets define the terms of issues facing hospitals and health systems and provide in-depth explanations of the AHA's position on these issues.

Financial fact sheets from AHA's Policy Research.
Underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid to U.S. hospitals was $51 billion in 2014. Medicare reimbursed 89 cents and Medicaid reimbursed 90 cents for every dollar hospitals spent caring for these patients. This fact sheet provides the definition of underpayment and technical information on how this…
In 2014, community hospitals have provided more than $42.8 billion in uncompensated care to their patients. This fact sheet provides the definition of uncompensated care and technical information on how this figure is calculated on a cost basis.
Guidance from the Office of Civil Rights
Medicare and other federal programs must account for the special circumstances of rural communities.
Each year, the American Hospital Association (AHA) collects aggregate information on the payments and costs associated with care delivered to beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid by U.S. hospitals. The data used to generate these numbers come from the AHA’s Annual Survey of Hospitals, which is…
The Issue The Affordable Care Act (ACA) required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to penalize hospitals for “excess” readmissions when compared to “expected” levels of readmissions. Since the start of the program on Oct. 1, 2012, hospitals have experienced nearly $1.9 billion…
The following is an explanation of hospital charges, payment and costs.