Perspective

Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, standing in front of the AHA seal and a United States flag.

Perspective is a weekly blog from Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, that explores the most important issues facing hospitals and health systems.

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spiking in a number of states, hospitals and health systems — and the women and men on the front lines — continue to battle the virus. At the same time, hospitals continue to confront the greatest financial crisis in their history, as our recent report…
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life in ways we never expected. For patients across the country, the cancellation or postponement of non-emergent surgeries, clinic visits and procedures delayed important medical care and financially devastated many hospitals and health systems, even threatening…
The Census Bureau recently reported that “a third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also been reported that Americans are increasingly at risk for “deaths of despair” from substance misuse and suicide, forecasting that the mental…
The AHA is working hard to achieve health equity by working with the government to improve data collection to guide policy, and by creating tools and resources to help hospitals and health systems improve health equity in the community.
National Hospital Week 2020 may be coming to a close tomorrow, but our efforts to support America’s health care heroes and their hospitals and health systems are still going strong.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about the “triple whammy” of issues related to COVID-19 that are contributing to an unprecedented financial crisis for hospitals and health systems.
Every day the women and men of America’s hospitals and health systems continue the battle against COVID-19. As our heroes on the front lines care for our family members, friends and neighbors, the AHA is focused on three areas – relief, recovery and rebuilding – to support the field.
Skyrocketing costs of preparing for a surge of COVID-19 patients. Drops in revenue from shutting down regular operations in terms of scheduled procedures.
This week, the women and men of America’s hospitals and health systems are continuing their heroic efforts caring for tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients.
Long hours, a shortage of personal protective equipment, self-isolating from their own family members to protect them … these are just a few of the many difficulties America’s front-line health care workers are facing as they lead the fight against COVID-19.