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{{Short description|Health care industry trade group}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = American Hospital Association
| image = AmericanHospitalAssociation.png
| established = {{start date and age|1898}}
| predecessor = The Association of Hospital Superintendents of the United States and Canada
| type = [[Professional association]]
| services = [[Health care]]
| headquarters = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]<ref name="2018 IRS Form 990">{{cite web | url=https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2018/360/726/2018-360726140-112a3455-9O.pdf | title=2018 Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax | publisher=guidestar.org | work=Non-profit "tax return" | date=20 August 2019 | access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>
| membership =
| key_people = {{ubl|Wright L. Lassiter III (Chair)|Richard J. Pollack|President & CEO)}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.aha.org/|aha.org}}
}}
The '''American Hospital Association''' ('''AHA''')<ref name=AmHoAsso.NYT2020>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/upshot/hospitals-lost-price-transparency-lawsuit.html
|title=Hospitals Sued to Keep Prices Secret. They Lost.
|last1=Kliff |first1=Sarah |last2=Sanger-Katz |first2=Margot |issn=0362-4331
|date=June 23, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/25/business/25medicare-doc-2.html
|title=American Hospital Association Responds to Obama Administration
|date=September 24, 2012}}</ref> is a [[healthcare|health care]] [[Trade association|industry trade group]]. It includes nearly 5,000 hospitals and health care providers.

The organization, which was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1898, with offices in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] and [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="healthfinder_AHA">{{cite web |url=http://www.healthfinder.gov/orgs/HR0654.htm|title=American Hospital Association - AHA
|work=healthfinder.gov |publisher=[[United States Department of Health and Human Services|US Dept. of Health & Human Services]]
|access-date=2013-11-20 |date=August 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|chapter=HEALTH Health Planning and Administration
|title=Medical Technology Assessment Directory: A Pilot Reference to Organizations, Assessments, and Information Resources
|first=Clifford |last=Goodman |editor=Council on Health Care Technology, [[Institute of Medicine]]
|publisher=[[National Academies Press]] |year=1988 |isbn=0-30903-829-4
|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6BXQq92hri4C&pg=PA524&lpg=PA524 524–8]}}</ref> is currently headquartered in Chicago.<ref name="2018 IRS Form 990"/>

The organization has lobbied against [[Single-payer healthcare|Medicare for All]] proposals<ref name=":0" /> and opposed "free care to low-income people who lack medical insurance."<ref name=":1" /> It has also filed lawsuits to stop the U.S. government from requiring that hospitals make their prices public,<ref name="AmHoAsso.NYT2020" /> as well as lobbied against various proposals to reduce health care costs for patients and taxpayers.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=DeGuzman |first=Phil Galewitz, Colleen |date=2024-02-13 |title=In Fight Over Medicare Payments, the Hospital Lobby Shows Its Strength |url=https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/medicare-site-neutral-payments-hospital-lobby-fight/ |website=KFF Health News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
In 1870, there were only about 100 general hospitals in the United States, but the institution was growing rapidly.<ref name=Vogel>{{cite book | last = Vogel | first = Morris J. | chapter = Managing Medicine: Creating a Profession of Hospital Administration in the United States, 1895-1915 | editor1-last = Granshaw | editor1-first = Lindsay |editor2-last = Porter |editor2-first= Roy |editor2-link= Roy Porter | title= The Hospital in History | publisher = [[Routledge]] | year = 1989 | isbn = 0415056039 | page = 244 }}</ref> Hospital administrators formed an organization, The Association of Hospital Superintendents of the United States and Canada, which held its first meeting in 1899 in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], where seven of the eight superintendents in attendance were based.<ref name=Vogel/>

The organization was promoted by publisher Del Sutton, whose journal, ''The National Hospital Sanitarium Record'', was adopted by the group in 1900, gradually coming under control of the organization until it was replaced by the organization's own publication, ''[[The Modern Hospital]]''.{{sfn|Vogel|1989|page= 245}}<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The American Journal of Nursing
|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3408808 |title=American Hospital Association|year=1924 |volume=24 |issue=14 |pages=1148–1151 |doi=10.2307/3408808 |jstor=3408808 |s2cid=43979542 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Modern Hospital'' stopped in 1974.<ref name=ModHosMagEOJ.NYT1974>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/04/archives/advertising-the-national-star-mccalls-to-sell-list-for-coupon.html
|title=New Magazines Planned |date=February 4, 1974}}</ref>

In 1906, the organization adopted its present name. Membership was 450 in 1908.{{sfn|Vogel|1989|pages= 244, 245}} Records of early annual meetings detail some of the conflicts in the emerging hospital culture of Canada and the United States concerning whether hospitals should be governed by physicians or administrators, with non-professionals representing a heavy majority. {{sfn|Vogel|1989|page= 252}} Current ongoing research into the cost-effectiveness of such a decision has focused on increasing disparities and conflicts of "business ethics and medical ethics"
that affect "profitability versus patient and public health care,"<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/26/opinion/doctors-hospitals-and-dollars.html
|title=Doctors, Hospitals and Dollars |author=Connie M. Ulrich |date=May 25, 2014}}</ref> as administrative overhead makes up a disproportionate amount of health cost.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/wage-gap-between-hospital-executives-and-doctors-widening-study-shows|title = Wage gap between hospital executives and doctors is widening, study shows}}</ref>

The organization issued a statement in 1964 backing "service to all people" regardless of "race, religion or national origin."<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 10, 1964 |title=Hospitals Back Integration |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/10/archives/hospitals-back-integration.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

==Activities==
===Conventions===
[[File:Automotive Building Convention 1931 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The 1931 convention was held at the [[Automotive Building]] in [[Toronto]]]]
''AHA'', "the country's largest hospital group,"<ref name=AmHosBiggest.NYT2020>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/upshot/surprise-medical-bills-congress-ban.html
|title=Surprise Medical Bills Cost Americans Millions
|date=December 22, 2020}}</ref> held their first annual convention in 1898.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/09/28/archives/links-hospital-church-and-school-dr-bachmeyer-tells-association.html
|title=LINKS HOSPITAL, CHURCH AND SCHOOL; Dr. Bachmeyer Tells Association They, With School, Form Triad for Welfare of Man. OPENS 28TH CONVENTION 5,000 Delegates Are Welcomed at Atlantic City by Gov. Moore and Mayor Bader.
|date=September 28, 1926}}</ref>

===Research and data bases===
In 1946 the AHA began its Annual Survey of US hospitals, building a data base of more than 6,500 hospitals combining more than 1,500 data fields including hospital organizational configuration, healthcare worker data, hospital resources, services provided and financial operations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aizcorbe |first1=Ana |last2=Baker |first2=Colin |title=Measuring and modeling health care costs |date=2018 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago London |isbn=9780226530994 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1951, the association announced it would invest $500,000 (US) in an in-depth study of the financing and overall costs incurred by the nation's hospitals. The study, believed to be the first of its kind, attempted to unearth “…the best ways of offering high quality hospital care at the lowest cost” and included an assessment of the financial status of the nation's hospitals. The study was managed by a commission chaired by [[Gordon Gray (politician)|Gordon Gray]], president of the [[University of North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Freeman |first1=Lucy |author-link=Lucy Freeman |title=2-YEAR SURVEY SET ON HOSPITAL COSTS; Authorities, at St. Louis Parley, Announce Study on Finances and Quality of Services GORDON GRAY TO DIRECT IT Trust Funds Supporting Work --How to Lower the Expense of Care Is a Major Goal Grants Will Finance the Study Smoke Routs Hotel Guests |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/09/17/86476719.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 |work=The New York Times |date=17 September 1951 |language=en}}</ref>

===Lobbying===
The organization has lobbied or been involved in lawsuits on a range of issues:
* lobbied against [[Single-payer healthcare|Medicare for All]] proposals<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|last=Pear |first=Robert |date=February 23, 2019
|title=Health Care and Insurance Industries Mobilize to Kill 'Medicare for All'
|language=en-US |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/us/politics/medicare-for-all-lobbyists.html
|access-date=2020-06-24 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and opposed "free care to low-income people who lack medical insurance."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/06/business/nonprofit-hospital-agrees-to-limits-on-patient-fees.html
|title=Nonprofit Hospital Agrees To Limits on Patient Fees
|author=David Cay Johnston |author-link=David Cay Johnston |date=August 6, 2004}}</ref>
* filed lawsuits to stop the U.S. government from requiring that hospitals make their prices public.<ref name="AmHoAsso.NYT2020" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Melanie |date=2019 |title=Hospitals Turn to Courts as Lobbying Fails to Block Price-Transparency Proposal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospitals-turn-to-courts-as-lobbying-fails-to-block-price-transparency-proposal-11575551412 |work=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref>
* During the coronavirus pandemic, the AHA, [[American Medical Association]] and [[American Nurses Association]] asked Congress to provide $100 billion in aid to hospitals for coronavirus testing and treatment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Herman|first=Bob
|title=Hospitals ask for $100 billion coronavirus bailout
|url=https://www.axios.com/hospitals-coronavirus-bailout-congress-21979704-c76b-4339-b931-090df5b941fc.html |access-date=2020-06-24
|website=Axios|date=March 19, 2020
|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=King |first=Robert |date=2020-03-19 |title=Providers implore Congress to give $100B in assistance to handle COVID-19 {{!}} Fierce Healthcare |url=https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/providers-implore-congress-to-give-100b-assistance-to-handle-covid-19 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.fiercehealthcare.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-25 |title=Congress gives hospitals $100B they demanded in coronavirus package |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/congress-hospitals-coronavirus-funding-148152 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>
* The AHA sued the Joe Biden administration in 2023 after the HHS restricted the ability of health care providers to sell the data of healthcare website visitors to third-parties on the basis that selling this data constituted HIPAA violation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023 |title=US hospital groups sue Biden administration to block ban on web trackers |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hospital-groups-sue-biden-administration-block-ban-web-trackers-2023-11-02/ |work=Reuters}}</ref>
* The AHA lobbied against a bipartisan proposal to reduce the costs paid by patients and taxpayers for services at hospitals. The bipartisan proposal would have forced Medicare to pay the same price for the same health care service, whether it is provided in a hospital facility or a doctor's office, rather than pay twice as much for services provided by hospitals.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=Hospital lobbying could sink effort to trim Medicare costs |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/02/05/hospitals-medicare-lobbying-cuts |work=Axios}}</ref>

===Professional Membership Groups===
Professional Membership Groups (PMGs) are [[wikt:affiliated|affiliated]] [[societies]] which fall under the umbrella of the AHA:

* [[American Society for Healthcare Engineering]] (ASHE)<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://jobs.nytimes.com/job/349982450/assistant-nurse-manager-job-in-farmington-mo
|title=ICU Assistant Nurse Manager job in Farmington, MO - Jobs ...
|quote=recognized for its design and function by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering}}</ref>
* [[American Society for Healthcare Risk Management]] (ASHRM)
* [[Association for Community Health Improvement]] (ACHI)
* [[Association for the Healthcare Environment]] (AHE)<ref>{{cite web |title= Bylaws of the Association for the Healthcare Environment |url= http://www.ahe.org/ahe/content/join/13ahebylaws.pdf |date= 2013-02-11 |access-date= 2013-11-20 |work= Association for the Healthcare Environment website |orig-year= 1986 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140123210403/http://www.ahe.org/ahe/content/join/13ahebylaws.pdf |archive-date= 2014-01-23 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
* [[Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management]] (AHRMM)
* [[At Large AHA Membership for Healthcare Management/Consulting Professionals]]
* [[Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development]] (SHSMD)
*[[Institute for Diversity and Health Equity]]

==See also==
* [[The Center for Healthcare Governance]]
* [[The New York Foundation]]
* [[National Uniform Billing Committee]]
* [[Federation of American Hospitals]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.aha.org}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1898 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1898]]
[[Category:Hospitals in the United States]]
[[Category:Health care-related professional associations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Business organizations based in Chicago]]
[[Category:Human welfare organizations based in Chicago]]
[[Category:Professional associations based in the United States]]

American Hospital Association - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.