AHA Stat Blog

During Mental Health Month, let’s all remember that caring for the whole person improves health and saves lives.

Last week, researchers at RAND released a study that made broad claims about the prices that private insurers pay hospitals. The RAND authors relied on severely limited data and questionable assumptions to draw far-reaching conclusions about the way hospitals are paid for patient care.

When the many vulnerable members of society need care, they often turn to their local hospital or health system.

Drug companies are at it again. And their latest effort to divert the focus from the huge profits they pocket as drug prices rise is just as disingenuous as all of their previous attempts.

Earlier this week, Politico published cherry-picked metrics from the recently released Moody’s Preliminary Medians for not-for-profit and public hospitals.

Our hospitals and health systems are exceptional because the 6.2 million women and men who deliver care within them never lose sight of the core truth: Health care is people taking care of people.

Advancing health in America isn’t just about expanding access to care — it’s also about reaching people who need it. We all have to do our part to end human trafficking and help the victims who are suffering because of it.

During National Nurses Week, Robyn Begley, AHA Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer and CEO of AHA’s American Organization of Nurse Executives, talks about how from the bedside to the C-suite to the boardroom, nurses are critical partners in leading the transformation of health care across the care continuum.

In this AHA Stat blog post, Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of the AHA Physician Alliance, highlights strategies from four female physicians who participate in the Women’s Wellness through Equity and Leadership Grant Program on how to address burnout professionally and personally.

More than three-quarters of U.S. hospitals offer patients the ability to connect with caregivers at a distance, ensuring that care is delivered at the right time.

Investing in our country’s health infrastructure is the right move to make.

A recent Health Affairs blog post (April 19) on hospital price transparency argues that chargemaster data can be confusing to consumers. We agree, and have encouraged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to focus, instead, on the information that really matters to patients – expected out-of-pocket costs.

In part one of this two-part blog series, AHA Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Jay Bhatt, D.O., discusses how AHA’s 2019 Innovation Challenge directs bold new thinking to urgent problems. Applications for the challenge are open through May 24. Read more and watch for part two tomorrow.

In this AHA Stat Blog, Priya Bathija, vice president of AHA’s The Value Initiative, writes that, while high-tech innovations are significant, we must not forget about affordable alternatives that are within easy reach. She shares examples of these types of solutions developed by hospitals and health systems.

In my experience, health care is a team sport.  Patient outcomes and experiences improve when caregivers are expert communicators – trained on best practices for interaction not only with patients, but also with one another.  

With our Better Health for Mothers and Babies initiative, America’s hospitals and health systems are enhancing our commitment to improving maternal health.

There is no doubt that enhanced convenience and customer service is where health care is headed.

AONL is leading the nursing leadership field forward, and the AHA will keep working to support them so that, together, we can advance health in America.

We must address the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities that increase the risk of negative perinatal outcomes for women of color.