Org Leadership & Governance 4

AHA.ORG | PAGE 7 OF 162025 ADVOCACY AGENDA

Coverage and Access

� Ensure access to care for veterans by working with the Department of Veterans Affairs as it implements the next generation of comprehensive community care for veterans.

� Support policy and federal oversight changes to ensure the appropriate use of donated organs in time for a successful transplant, the ability to effectively use new strategies for harvesting and preserving organs until donated and coordinated, and rational regulation of transplant centers, donor hospitals and organ procurement organizations.

Rural Hospitals

� Protect rural communities’ access to care by making permanent critical programs, including the Medicare-dependent Hospital designation, Low-volume Adjustment and ambulance add-on payment.

� Improve rural health programs by reopening the necessary provider designation for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), reversing cuts to Rural Health Clinic payments, removing the 96- hour condition of payment for CAHs and further strengthening Medicare-dependent and Sole Community Hospitals by allowing participating hospitals to choose from an additional base year when calculating payments.

� Advance rural health care alternatives to ensure care delivery and !nancing by supporting and re!ning the Rural Emergency Hospital model.

� Continue to support legislation that would place a "oor on the area wage index, effectively raising it for hospitals below that threshold with new money.

� Support Medicare Advantage payment parity for CAHs to ensure the long-term health of providers and facilities that care for patients in rural areas, considering the volume of Medicare Advantage enrollment in those communities.

Post-acute Care

� Bolster patient access to post-acute care by establishing appropriate network adequacy requirements for long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies.

� Eliminate the proposed minimum staf!ng requirements for skilled nursing and long-term care facilities and instead press for long-term solutions to health care workforce shortages.

� Provide stability under the long-term care hospital prospective payment system through legislative and regulatory reforms that provide adequate reimbursement for high-cost patients and those with high acuity levels.