Amid the rapidly evolving landscape of the first months of the Trump administration and the 119th Congress, America’s Essential Hospitals has worked tirelessly to safeguard and prioritize our members’ interests in Washington.
Beyond our regular engagement with members of Congress and key staff on committees of jurisdiction for health care, we recently hosted our annual fly-in, Federal Advocacy Assembly, equipping member hospitals with information and connecting leaders directly with policymakers to advocate for critical issues.
Materials provided and discussions in these meetings focused on:
- Preventing hospital payment cuts, including the impending $8 billion Medicaid disproportionate share hospital funding cuts set to occur April 1 and defending against site-neutral cuts affecting outpatient department reimbursements
- Extending key programs, such as Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver
- Securing official federal designation for Essential Hospitals
- Mitigating hospital workforce shortages
- Protecting the 340B Drug Pricing Program from harmful policy changes, including contract pharmacy restrictions and rebate plan proposals
A major area of focus has been preventing changes to Medicaid and Medicare via the congressional reconciliation process, which seeks to fund President Trump’s priorities — such as tax cuts — through aggressive reductions elsewhere.
One notable success came during the Feb. 25 House Committee on Energy and Commerce full committee markup, where Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) reinforced our advocacy by quoting directly from the association’s letter in support of Medicaid:
“Medicaid allows essential hospitals to keep their doors open and provide care for everyone in their community.”
Rep. Castor also called for the letter to be entered into the congressional record, amplifying our message.
To further strengthen our advocacy, we have developed a Medicaid position paper to share widely among lawmakers and launched a Protect Medicaid Interest Group Resources page to equip members with the tools they need to engage effectively.
As policies continue to shift, we remain committed to ensuring you have the resources and support necessary to serve your communities. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or to request additional support.
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