While Congress debates health reform legislation in Washington, “real reform” will come from hospital leaders and the example they set back home, AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock told hospital leaders. Kicking off the AHA annual meeting’s Federal Forum, Umbdenstock expressed hope that Congress will take “far reaching and historic action” this year on health reform.

“It won’t end up like it did in 1994,” he said, referring to the Clinton administration’s failed plan. “Nobody is standing up and cheering for the status quo.” But he acknowledged that the road to reform will be rocky. “There is no doubt that we are in for months of political rough and tumble.”

Umbdenstock said that when “the time for national give-and-take arrives on Capitol Hill, hospitals will have a seat at the table.” Hospitals leaders’ reform agenda “goes beyond our own particular interests,” he said. “And because our first interests always are patients, families and communities É we will be seated with an extra shot of credibility.”

But he said the most challenging work on reform will be done back home by hospital leaders who focus their organizations on “achieving superior clinical and management performance with the patient at the center of all you do,” and “reach beyond the hospital walls to create connections and collaborations in the community that will help you lead that community to better health.”

Umbdenstock told hospital leaders that “you are our national health reformers. You are reforming the system under today’s rules É and you will lead the implementation of reform under tomorrow's new vision and incentives.” He added that hospital leaders can help ensure that reform “won’t be a vague political triumph, but will be a real and lasting difference in the lives of every American and in the economic health of this great nation.”

AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack urged hospital leaders to deliver a strong message to Congress: protect the health care safety net, keep union elections free and fair, and work for health reform that lowers costs while getting patients the right care at the right place and time.

In their meetings on Capitol Hill, AHA members need to help lawmakers and their staff understand the challenges they face – as major employers, economic engines and the health care safety net – in meeting community needs, Pollack said.

He called on AHA members to express their strong opposition to the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” (H.R. 1409/S. 560), also known as the “card check” bill, because it takes away workers’ right to a private vote and replaces caregivers’ best judgment with an outsider’s opinion. He said lawmakers also need to know that America’s hospitals seek bipartisan solutions on health reform and a flexible approach to financing reforms.

While much has changed in Washington since last year’s annual meeting, “the one thing that never changes is the commitment of hospitals to serve their patients and communities É and your willingness as leaders to communicate what you need to get that job done,” Pollack said.

This article 1st appeared in the May 11, 2009 issue of AHA News