Ashley Thompson
Senior Vice President, Public Policy Analysis and Development
Ashley Thompson is the Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development at the American Hospital Association.
Articles
Medicaid
AHA Comments on CMS Medicaid Community Engagement Requirements Interim Final Rule
American Hospital Association (AHA) comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) interim final rule on Medicaid community engagement requirements.
Making Healthcare More Affordable, Cost Management, Billing & Collections, Commercial Insurer Accountability
Affordability Requires Looking at the Whole Healthcare System
Making healthcare more affordable for families, businesses, and the federal and state governments is an important goal. High-quality healthcare should support individuals in living their best lives, including thriving at work and supporting a vibrant, innovative economy. Unfortunately, the substantial need for healthcare and the high cost of healthcare services have strained too many families, businesses and government budgets. Thus, we are rightly having a national reckoning with healthcare affordability.
Physician-owned Hospitals
New Study: Physician-owned Hospitals Threaten Patient Access and Financial Viability of Full-service Sole Community Hospitals
Results from a new Dobson | DaVanzo study further support retaining the ban on new Physician-Owned Hospitals (POHs) and explain the damage of expanding POHs in rural communities.
Medicaid
Cuts to State Medicaid Finance Methods Would Limit Access to Care for Everyone
Paragon Health Institute continues their series of misguided and harmful characterizations of Medicaid financing and provider payment.
Medicaid, Setting the Record Straight
Setting the Record Straight: Beware of Opinions Masquerading as Facts
For health care organizations that care for the 70 million Medicaid patients in the U.S., provider taxes are a life vest that keep state Medicaid programs afloat and allow them to continue providing critical health care services for their communities.
Long-Term Care PPS, Long-term Care, Nurses, Workforce, Workforce Supply and Demand
AHA Statement on Proposed Rule on Minimum Staffing in Nursing Homes
The AHA strongly believes that a skilled, caring workforce is integral to delivery of high quality, safe care. At the same time, safe staffing is about much more than a number. We are concerned that in proposing a one-size-fits-all numerical staffing threshold, CMS would remove the role of clinical judgment in staffing facilities, and inadvertently create patient access challenges across the health care system.
Medicare, Setting the Record Straight
Out of Touch with Reality: Pushing Back on Editorial in The Washington Post Calling for Medicare Cuts to Hospitals and Health Systems
The editorial board of The Washington Post has published an opinion piece calling for payment cuts to hospitals and health systems as part of efforts to stabilize the Medicare program. The editorial calls for adopting so-called site-neutral payment policies, decreasing federal payments to teaching hospitals and reducing coverage of bad debt to 25%.
Medicare, Setting the Record Straight
MedPAC’s March Report Misses the Mark
Earlier this month the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its annual March report on the commission’s recommendations for Fiscal Year 2024 Medicare payment updates. Some recent media articles have lazily used the report to suggest that “hospitals’ financial situations are not nearly as dire as industry groups are making them out to be.”
Metropolitan Anchor Hospital (MAH), Access to Care in Vulnerable Communities, Reducing Healthcare Disparities
New NORC Report Details Financial Pressures & Critical Role of Hospitals Serving Urban Communities
Hospitals serving marginalized urban communities need additional federal support so they can meet their mission of advancing health for the patients and communities they serve.
Physician Issues, Leadership, Physician-owned Hospitals
Blog: Hill Opinion Piece Touts the Wrong Prescription with Physician-Owned Hospitals
A recent piece in The Hill promoting physician-owned hospitals gives a misleading and incomplete account of these facilities and the reasons for current statutory restrictions on their growth.