A R K A N S A S H O S P I TA L A S S O C I AT I O N
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A N N U A L R E P O R T
90 years A Brief History
The Arkansas Hospital Association (AHA) was formed in 1929, a loosely knit, but dedicated group that wanted to raise the level of health services available to Arkansans and improve health care quality in the state. Today, at age 90, AHA is a richly woven association of more than 100 member hospitals. Still committed to improving health care quality, the Association also focuses on not only advocacy, cutting edge analytics, and dynamic learning opportunities but also providing member services to advance the health and well-being of Arkansas hospitals and the communities they serve.
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Board of Directors Chris B. Barber
Greg Crain
Chairman
Metropolitan District
President/CEO St. Bernards Healthcare
Senior Vice President /Administrator Baptist Health Medical Center-LR
Ron Peterson
Barry L. Davis
President/CEO Baxter Regional Medical Center
CEO Arkansas Methodist Medical Center
Peggy L. Abbott
Vincent Leist
Chairman-Elect
Northeast District
Treasurer
Northwest District
President/CEO Ouachita County Medical Center
President/CEO North Arkansas Regional Medical Center
Darren Caldwell
David Deaton
Phillip K. Gilmore
Arkansas State Board of Health Representative CEO Ashley County Medical Center
Gary Paxson
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care Representative President & CEO White River Health System
James L. Magee Ex-Officio
Executive Director Piggott Community Hospital
Past-Chairman
North Central District
Senior VP for Regional Services St. Bernards Healthcare
CEO Ozark Health Medical Center
Ryan Gehrig
Brian Thomas
President Mercy Hospital Fort Smith
CEO Jefferson Regional
AAHT Representative
Mike McCoy
Debra J. Wright
President Arkansas Association of Hospital Trustees
CEO Chambers Memorial Hospital
CEO Howard Memorial Hospital
Director, At-Large
Arkansas Valley District
Southeast District
Southwest District
Jan Gardner
AHAA Representative President Arkansas Hospital Auxiliary Association
Rob Robinson
Larry Shackelford
Delegate, American Hospital Association CEO Washington Regional Medical System
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Policy & Advocacy 2019 Session: Key Wins • Created the Health Care Contracting Simplification Act, assuring fairer negotiations on the part of commercial insurers and managed care companies. • Passed legislation requiring insurance companies to honor patients’ assignment of benefits – whether providers are in-network or out-of-network. • Created legislation allowing less costly credentialing of hospital telemedicine physicians. • Ensured that new reporting laws protect hospitals from lawsuit liability and encourage quality improvement. • Secured votes for the Medicaid appropriation, including funding for Arkansas Works.
2019 Session: Key Saves • Prevented not-for-profit hospitals being required to pay taxes during appeal of an exemption determination. • Opposed repeal of Arkansas Works and reduction of coverage and eligibility for Arkansas Works participants. • Prevented hospital licensing fee increases by the Arkansas Department of Health. • Opposed the erosion of Distracted Driving and Seat Belt Laws. • Fought sale of certain short-term health insurance policies (junk insurance) in Arkansas. 4
As the state’s most trusted authority on health care, the AHA has a seat at the table for all major policy initiatives with the goal of improving the system to enhance individual patient care and public health for Arkansans.
Advocating for You • Monitors proposed federal and state laws and regulations. • Crafts legislation favorable to the patients of Arkansas. • Intervenes in lawsuits to offer insight about the broad implications of court decisions on patients and the health care system. • Maintains relationships with legislators, regulators, and their staffs so the hospital perspective is always in their focus.
2019 Achievements • Published a 112-page Arkansas Health Care Legislation reference guide to acts passed in the 2019 session and recent state appeals court decisions impacting members. • Joined a multi-state coalition of state hospital associations working for reform in Medicare Advantage and other managed care initiatives. • Monitored the creation of the PASSE program that places developmentally disabled and mentally ill Arkansans into provider-led Medicaid Managed Care. • Donated state AHA PAC funds to Arkansas candidates who consistently support hospitals and their patients. • Filed amicus curiae briefs challenging Medicare 340B payment cuts, defending the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, supporting required formal rulemaking when CMS changes substantive payment calculations, and urging protection of the Arkansas quality assurance privilege. • Sustained supplemental funding to hospitals through review of the Upper Payment Limit (UPL) Gap. 5
AHA Analytics AHA Analytics, the Arkansas Hospital Association’s data services program, provides access to timely and accurate data and statistics for hospitals, offering members indispensable tools for strategic planning and quality improvement.
2019 Achievements • Created the secure AHA Analytics website where reports are available to all members. • Went live with the discharge data program, making data available to members within 45 days of each quarterly submission. Through a customizable query system hosted on a secure website, members can access reports on a variety of topics, from market share and outmigration, to AHRQ and HAC quality measures. • Engaged a new vendor to provide an expanded salary survey as a member benefit. • Created Hospital-Specific Statistical Reports to help member organizations assess patient satisfaction, outcome measures, and Medicare quality program performance. • Produced financial analyses to help members understand financial performance and estimate the impact of proposed and final Medicare rule updates.
Your Health Advocate • Works strategically with members to create open working relationships with the Department of Human Services on Medicaid, Arkansas Works, the Provider-Led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity (PASSE) program, numerous reimbursement issues, and changes to the MMIS claims payment system. • Hosts monthly all-payer meetings bringing together representatives from Arkansas hospitals, Medicaid, insurance carriers and the medical society for discussion of payer/provider issues. 6
• Publishes an annual, statewide compilation of hospital statistics.
Education & Networking Providing in-person and web-based learning opportunities for members, AHA offers cost-effective courses created for specific workgroups within each hospital. Our October Annual Meeting and Trade Show features industry experts presenting on trending topics and best practices, and it brings members together for networking and collaboration.
2019 Achievements • Presented 42 in-person meetings and workshops. • Offered 90 webinars and online presentations. • Educated more than 2,600 leaders and employees. • Offered more than 275 hours of approved continuing education credit in: ACHE Face-to-Face, Compliance, Legal, Nursing, ACHE Networking, Engineering, Long-term Care, Physician Education, ACHE Qualified Education, Materials Management, Quality, Coding, Human Resources, Medical Staff Services, Risk Management, and Social Work
• Conducted major workshops on Crisis Response, Behavioral Health, Physician Leadership, and Emergency Preparedness.
90%
of AHA Members Participated in Learning Opportunities in 2019. 7
Arkansas Association for Healthcare Engineering Arkansas Association for Healthcare Quality
Working with Our Allies in Health Care AHA offers staffing services for the 13 groups affiliated with the Association. Together in 2019, these groups sponsored 24 in-person educational meetings attended by more than 900 people. Membership in our 13 allied groups numbered 1,482, and AHA provided more than 500 staff hours served through event planning, continuing education, board liaison work, communication and correspondence services.
Arkansas Association for Medical Staff Services Arkansas Association of Hospital Trustees Arkansas Healthcare Human Resources Association Arkansas Health Executives Forum Arkansas Hospital Auxiliary Association Arkansas Organization for Nurse Executives Arkansas Society for Directors of Volunteer Services Arkansas Social Workers in Health Care Arkansas Society for Healthcare Marketing & Public Relations Healthcare Financial Management Association Society for Arkansas Healthcare Purchasing and Materials Management
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Quality & Patient Safety The AHA clinical quality improvement team supports members with onsite visits, coaching calls, mentoring, and building quality improvement capacity within the state.
Advancing Patient Care • Held approximately 150 coaching/check-in calls with hospital quality teams. • Hosted nearly 400 individuals at HIIN meetings, offering cutting-edge education to participants. • Offered more than 150 free webinars for hospitals in support of their quality improvement efforts. • Produced 50 weekly Quality Team e-newsletters, sharing local, state, and national information.
2019 Achievements • Continued our partnership with the Health Research Education Trust of the American Hospital Association Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) to support 54 participating hospitals in further reducing all-cause harm and improving quality in multiple topic areas. • Completed cohort two of our Sepsis Prevention Project, offering tools, education, access to subject matter experts, and onsite simulation training to 14 member hospitals. • Established a Statewide Patient and Family Advisory Council, with 15 initial members including hospital staff and patients/patient advisors, to advance Patient and Family Engagement in all Arkansas hospitals. • Partnered with the New Mexico Hospital Association to offer certification for infection preventionists, providing seven IPs with six months of virtual training and examination fees for their 2019 certification.
Celebrating Results (2016-2019)
$47,935,807 in Cost Savings
4,702
Harms Prevented
295
Lives Saved
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Serving Our Members AHA Services, Inc. (AHASI) connects member hospitals throughout Arkansas with vendors and service providers that are trusted, proven winners in the health care field. Members not only get access to the programs and services they need through AHASI but also benefit from AHASI revenues, which are reinvested in AHA to provide critical financial support for educational programs and member initiatives in every department of the organization.
Telling the Health Care Story From a new logo to departmental branding and newsletter redesign,AHA got a new look this year. Public engagement soared when the AHA expanded our social media presence in 2019. We are on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Our total engagements across all platforms increased more than 200% from 2018 to 2019. Our total impressions increased by 131%. This engagement will serve us well as we move into our next 90 years as the voice of Arkansas hospitals. 10
85% of AHA members used the services of
at least one
AHA Services Endorsed Vendor
New to AHA Services in 2019 HospitalCareers.com is the health care industry’s career destination site, helping thousands of health care professionals find jobs and career paths. With over 28,000 job postings from more than 4,200 health care facilities nationwide, this resource helps to guide professionals and hospitals in finding their perfect match. The HospitalCareers platform offers a cost-effective recruitment
80% of AHA members used the services of
two or more
AHA Services Endorsed Vendors
solution that helps combat workforce shortages, reduce use of third-party agencies, replace ineffective forms of advertising, and provide a direct link to quality health care professionals. Hospitals can make the most of limited budgets while saving valuable time attracting candidates directly into their applicant-tracking systems.
Key Benefits • Exposure through hospital association partners, the national platform HospitalCareers.com, (with over 205,000 registered users and 255,000 page-views per month), integration with Google for Jobs, connectivity to graduates from Arkansas colleges and universities, and programmatic job distribution via hundreds of online resources. • Individually branded profile pages for all hospitals, medical centers and health system participants.
2019 Highlights • Returned $922,613 in unspent premiums from AHA Workers’ Compensation SelfInsured Trust to participating hospitals while maintaining a healthy fund balance to meet all workers’ compensation obligations. • Worked with Merritt Hawkins in placing 11 physicians, with an average patient revenue of $2,378,727 per physician, totaling $26,165,997 in revenue generated for Arkansas hospitals.
• Health care applicants apply directly to a hospital’s application tracking system or employment process. • HospitalCareers markets to career centers at state universities and colleges that produce health care graduates. • The platform tracks all jobs, job views, and “apply clicks” for each posting. • The annual cost of participation is comparable to one advertisement placed at a local weekend newspaper rate, and allows for an unlimited number of job postings, candidates, applications, and hires. 11
arkhospitals.org