America's Essential Hospitals


America's Essential Hospitals is an industry trade group that represents 300 hospitals that fill a safety net role in their communities. The association, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, formed in 1981 as the National Association of Public Hospitals.
A board of directors and committees composed of member volunteers govern America's Essential Hospitals. The association lobbies at the federal level on Medicaid and other issues important to hospitals that care for large numbers of uninsured, underinsured, and other vulnerable patients. In 2013, America's Essential Hospitals reported that it paid $120,000 in lobbying expenses to Holland & Knight.
America's Essential Hospitals operates a nonprofit research organization, Essential Hospitals Institute, which conducts various research and quality improvement activities. Institute projects have included the Essential Hospitals Engagement Network, one of 26 hospital networks in the federal Partnership for Patients program to improve patient safety and reduce avoidable readmissions.
On June 20, 2013, the association announced that it had changed its name to America's Essential Hospitals and the name of its research arm to Essential Hospitals Institute. The new brand, the association explained, emphasized its members' relationship to vulnerable patients and, through trauma and other specialized care, communities at large.

Activities

Member Characteristics Survey

America's Essential Hospitals annually surveys its members about various characteristics, such as patient ethnicity and race, operating margin, and amount of uncompensated care provided, and publishes aggregate findings in a report, "Essential Data: Our Hospitals, Our Patients." The most recent report, based on 2017 data, found that while the association's members represent about 5 percent of all U.S. hospitals, they: