Org Leadership & Governance 4

AHA.ORG | PAGE 15 OF 162025 ADVOCACY AGENDA

� Ensure patients do not face !nancial barriers to care because of unaffordable deductibles or otherwise “skinny coverage,” such as health sharing ministries and short-term limited-duration coverage products.

� Reduce the prevalence of individuals faced with unaffordable medical bills by addressing the root causes of medical debt, such as skyrocketing deductibles and other bene!t designs that push costs onto consumers.

� Support price transparency efforts by ensuring patients have access to the information they seek when preparing for care, including cost estimates when appropriate, and creating alignment of federal price transparency requirements to avoid patient confusion and overly burdensome duplication of efforts.

� Advocate that No Surprises Act price transparency regulations leverage existing work"ows and appropriate technology to enable patient access to information without signi!cant administrative burden for providers.

� Reduce unnecessary costs in the system by pursuing medical liability reform.

� Reduce regulatory burden by identifying and advocating for the repeal of unnecessary and duplicative Conditions of Participation that increase hospital inef!ciency and reduce the time providers can spend caring for their patients.

� Mitigate unreasonable proposed changes to the False Claims Act and related enforcement practices.

� Preserve the ability of hospital and health system clinical laboratories to develop new and innovative diagnostic tests, known as laboratory-developed tests (LDT), to address unmet patient needs and improve existing diagnostic tests without imposing burdensome and unnecessary regulatory oversight.

� Ensure public policies are aligned across government regulatory bodies so hospitals are not held to con"icting regulations.

� Reduce regulatory barriers to hospitals improving the environment, such as Medicare Conditions of Participation that lock hospitals into compliance with outdated and less energy-ef!cient physical plants or deter from efforts to reduce the use of anesthesia gases and inhalers.

� Prevent the imposition or increase of tariffs on vital medical supplies, including drugs, devices and raw materials used to manufacture devices and drugs in the U.S., as these will further raise medical services costs and potentially force hospitals to use less effective alternatives that could increase the patient harm risk.

REDUCING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM COSTS FOR PATIENT CARE