Chair File: Leadership Dialogue — Tackling Today’s Health Care Challenges with AHA Leaders Stacey Hughes and Ashley Thompson

00:00:00:20 - 00:00:29:13
Tom Haederle
Welcome to Advancing Health - and to the first Leadership Dialogue of the year - hosted by the American Hospital Association's 2025 Board Chair, Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health. Today, two senior AHA leaders join Tina to discuss key issues in health care and how the AHA is working on many fronts to support hospitals and health systems so they can provide the best care to patients and communities.

00:00:29:15 - 00:00:56:10
Tina Freese Decker
Hello and thank you everyone for joining us today. In 2025, the American Hospital Association is all in in tackling the challenges that are facing health care today. I am looking forward to using this Leadership Dialogue series to highlight the incredible ways the American Hospital Association and our member hospitals and health systems are making health better. My name is Tina Freese Decker, and I'm the president and CEO of Corewell Health

00:00:56:12 - 00:01:23:05
Tina Freese Decker
and the 2025 American Hospital Association board chair. As we kick off this new year, I want to start by introducing you to a few amazing leaders within the American Hospital Association who will help us navigate the year ahead. The American Hospital Association is here to help remove those barriers so as hospitals and health systems, we can provide the very best care to our patients and communities.

00:01:23:07 - 00:01:45:04
Tina Freese Decker
So today, while we don't have all the time to meet the full AHA team, I'm so excited to introduce you to Stacy Hughes and Ashley Thompson, two fantastic individuals who lead the AHA's government relations and public policy work. One of the things that gives me the most confidence in our approach is when I listen and I talk with them.

00:01:45:07 - 00:02:02:23
Tina Freese Decker
So I thought it would be really beneficial for all of you, our members, to hear from them. So let's begin. So Stacy and Ashley, welcome. So glad to see you today. Let's start with some introductions and share what you do with the American Hospital Association. Stacy?

00:02:02:25 - 00:02:21:05
Stacey Hughes
Sure. Thank you for this opportunity. We're so excited about your year ahead and working with you. And we're really appreciative of having a chance to showcase a little bit about what our team is up to. But I'm Stacy Hughes. I'm executive vice president in the D.C. office and oversee regulatory policy, federal relations PAC, and some of our communication efforts.

00:02:21:08 - 00:02:25:06
Stacey Hughes
Have a great team here. And we're going to talk more about that. But that's my role here, Tina.

00:02:25:14 - 00:02:26:28
Tina Freese Decker
Thank you. Ashley?

00:02:27:00 - 00:02:50:00
Ashley Thompson
Thank you, Tina, so much for giving us this opportunity and for your leadership on the board in the past and especially this year as chair. I'm Ashley Thompson. I'm the senior vice president of policy here at AHA. I lead a team of about 24 very amazing, talented individuals. The work that we do is really on behalf of hospitals and the patients they serve.

00:02:50:03 - 00:03:10:11
Tina Freese Decker
As we think about the work ahead of us this year, I also want to learn more about what you and your teams are doing. So the American Hospital Association is a bipartisan organization, and we work with all lawmakers to advance the issues that mean the most to us as hospitals and health systems. So, Stacy, tell us about the team that you lead.

00:03:10:14 - 00:03:17:10
Tina Freese Decker
The depth of expertise and their balance and how your team is preparing for this new administration in Congress.

00:03:17:12 - 00:03:36:03
Stacey Hughes
Sure. And I couldn't be more proud to be honest with you. And I have to say, you know, I give Rick and others a such a shout out for the legacy, you know, Ashley says she's here 23 years, I'm starting year five. Boy, both what I inherited as a team that were here day one, and then how we've grown as people have, you know, rolled off or changed jobs.

00:03:36:05 - 00:04:01:12
Stacey Hughes
It is solid. We've got, you know, lobbyists that have all worked largely on Capitol Hill or they were deeply, deeply immersed in the issues that are critical to hospitals. I'll ask you to talk about the policy team that we work on together. We've got such currency politically with the lobbyists that are on the team. Our colleagues and my colleagues, Lisa Kidder, she's been here 20 years. Amy Kuhlman, there's no one better than Amy in terms of leading our lobbyist team.

00:04:01:12 - 00:04:24:17
Stacey Hughes
So both their experience actually on the Hill, writing bills, knowing all the member offices. You know, we cover every single office here, you know, House and Senate. That's a lot to say Grace over. In terms of preparing, obviously this is a unified town now, it's a Republican town. We had a bit of a sweep. So we're busy getting ready to look at how we frame our issues with a very specific audience.

00:04:24:19 - 00:04:44:10
Stacey Hughes
But in addition, Tina, as you know, this is a pretty sweeping election in terms of retirements. There are 14 new Senate freshmen between Republicans and Democrats. There are about 55 new freshmen House members. So a big part of what we're doing is educating them early and often. Lisa and Amy and others are putting together a 101 of hospital issues.

00:04:44:16 - 00:05:00:09
Stacey Hughes
They understand our field immediately and early, and be a resource for them. So everyone is readying for what is going to be. And then we'll talk more about what the year ahead, what the expectations are. But it's a lot. And we are excited that the team is ready, but they have great skills.

00:05:00:09 - 00:05:04:20
Stacey Hughes
And, couldn't be more proud to be collaborating with them and leading them.

00:05:04:23 - 00:05:14:25
Tina Freese Decker
And as you do that education, are our lawmakers interested in health care? Are they appreciative of the education, the orientation and the one on one that we provide? And when we show up.

00:05:14:28 - 00:05:31:24
Stacey Hughes
They are and, you know, we're in the process of so getting out some of our very specific every congressional districts or what that hospital footprint looks like, you know, who's in your backyard, how many jobs are you providing that community? What is your role in the economic engine of that community? What are you doing in terms of serving that population?

00:05:31:24 - 00:05:48:28
Stacey Hughes
And they are interested. I think that, you know, as you know, there are a lot of threats around the financing of hospital, particularly the burden on the federal government and debt. And so being able to bring it to life to them, what we're really doing with limited resources and our contribution to communities,

00:05:48:28 - 00:06:03:25
Stacey Hughes
they do appreciate it. And particularly the role we play in terms of our jobs and their district. But it takes time. You know, you really have to tell the story, go to make sure you invest in that time. You always want to know your members before you need them. And I think that's important.

00:06:03:27 - 00:06:16:00
Tina Freese Decker
Ashley, I'd like to ask you the same question. So share a quick overview with us of some of the issue areas of policy expertise that you have amongst your team members, and what's the one thing your team is gearing up for this year that you can share with us?

00:06:16:02 - 00:06:42:09
Ashley Thompson
Well, like Stacey, I am so proud of the policy team. Many of the individuals, I think there are 24 of them, have been here for a very long time. They are true issue area experts. They are smart, they are talented, they are motivated. And I will say that they really want to improve health and health care in America and get hospitals, the resources that they need to really care for their patients.

00:06:42:11 - 00:07:09:03
Ashley Thompson
We are kind of divided into four areas. So we have Medicare payment, coverage, quality and patient safety, and data and research are kind of the big buckets. But underneath them we tackle probably any issue that hospitals deal with. We have experts on AI, we have experts on prior authorization. We have experts on quality. So it's really a diverse group.

00:07:09:06 - 00:07:27:09
Ashley Thompson
I would say that it's really hard to pick the one issue that they're going to be dealing with this year. I think that there's probably four that are most important. And Stacey and I have been working on this together with others across the association. I think one of them is to protect Medicaid and its enrollees.

00:07:27:09 - 00:07:49:16
Ashley Thompson
I think the second one is to ensure what we call the marketplace premium tax credits continue after the end of this year. About 10 million people have gotten coverage due to those tax credits, and we don't want them to lose coverage. The third area is to make sure that hospitals are not subjected to site neutral payments.

00:07:49:18 - 00:08:09:12
Ashley Thompson
And then I'd say the fourth area is probably protecting 340B, which is the drug pricing program. So those are definitely on our radar. But it goes beyond that. There are so many issues, I think our advocacy agenda came out this week. I haven't counted there's probably 75 plus issues that we are actively working.

00:08:09:14 - 00:08:34:21
Tina Freese Decker
And we're so appreciative of kind of highlighting the main areas that we need to focus on, but then understanding that as hospitals and health systems, we're not all alike and there are different issues that come up that we need to navigate as we move forward. Again, what I am so proud of is your team, both of your teams, really have the expertise and the experience to help tackle this and guide us as members as we move forward.

00:08:34:23 - 00:08:56:08
Tina Freese Decker
You know, there's also a much broader team at American Hospital Association that's supporting the work of our field  - from legal to communications to the quality of patient safety, field engagement. There's so many people that are ready to assist our members. So let's talk a bit about how our members and our leaders and our hospitals and our health systems might work with the American Hospital Association on those issues.

00:08:56:11 - 00:09:13:02
Tina Freese Decker
So, Stacy, can you tell us how your team engages with the members? And this time not the members of the Capitol Hill, but it's like hospitals and health systems. How can our hospital and health system leaders get more involved in advocacy efforts, and why is that important?

00:09:13:05 - 00:09:31:26
Stacey Hughes
Sure. Well, first and foremost, you know, our teams are constantly working with our members. I know Ashley would say the same, whether it's policy or federal relations. And that's just in the everyday, just grind of learning how to address issues and learn from them in terms of what we actually advocate for, that's an ongoing thing. But to your point, there are a lot of different ways that we work with members.

00:09:31:26 - 00:09:51:09
Stacey Hughes
One is through our government relations officer network. Certainly we work through our allieds, all the 50 state hospital executives, and is a huge partner for us in terms of our advocacy. But in terms of your of a hospital health system, main thing you can do is get to know your delegation. You know, I know you guys do this both obviously with your state, representatives and your state elected officials.

00:09:51:09 - 00:10:07:20
Stacey Hughes
But on the federal side, really getting to know them and telling that story often. And also, don't be afraid to go to them and let them know when you have a problem. You really want to get them invested in your success. And it doesn't take much. And I think we all, going through Covid, we saw how much everyone does stand up.

00:10:07:20 - 00:10:25:00
Stacey Hughes
They recognize the importance of making sure we have a sustainable, functioning hospital network and health systems. And so being sure to take that leap, give your member a call, get to know the staff and being willing to advocate. I mean, I will say, you know, we put out these advocacy alerts and, we try to be judicious.

00:10:25:00 - 00:10:45:00
Stacey Hughes
We don't want to say "hair on fire" every day, but we do have a lot of challenges coming, Tina, as you know, in terms of all the pressures to address some of the deficit issues, mandatory programs like Medicare, Medicaid are the top drivers of the deficit and spending. So we have a lot coming up. But we really say when we do give a call to action, we really need it.

00:10:45:00 - 00:11:00:21
Stacey Hughes
And in particular, if you know you have a member of Congress or senator that is uniquely positioned on committees of jurisdiction as well as leadership, you want to make sure there no daylight between what you're doing, what your needs are, and what they understand in terms of their education.

00:11:00:24 - 00:11:11:25
Tina Freese Decker
Great advice. Thank you so much, Ashley. Similarly, are there examples of member engagement that you can speak to that have been particularly successful or impactful in influencing policy development?

00:11:11:28 - 00:11:38:24
Ashley Thompson
Yeah, I actually think that one of the reasons why AHA is so successful is because of our policy development process. I think it's very unique. Through our committees and our regional policy board meetings, we touch probably 550 CEOs or C-suite leaders three times a year. And we bring to them, you know, our committees, our grouped by kind of type of hospital, whether you're rural or post-acute or whether you're behavioral health.

00:11:38:26 - 00:12:02:26
Ashley Thompson
And then our regions are just what it says. We divide up by region and they weigh in on policy development. So they weigh in on what should we do about physician payment, what should we do about health care affordability? What should we do about the increase in medical debt? What should we do about X, Y, and Z? And it's a really a thoughtful, like iterative process.

00:12:02:29 - 00:12:39:24
Ashley Thompson
We also have strategic leadership groups. We also have task forces that we staff on certain issues, whether it's principles or whether it's health care, the future. You know, what should we do about workforce issues? So we really rely on everyone to weigh in. And of course, our board of trustees. So we rely very heavily on our board. And thank you again for your chairmanship of it to help direct the association, to direct our policy positions, to direct what recommendations we come up with, and often to direct our strategy of how to achieve what we want in terms of outcomes.

00:12:39:24 - 00:12:59:11
Ashley Thompson
And so I do think that AHA, and particularly probably the policy team given the work that we do, has a lot of connections and we really rely on that and we want to hear from our members and we want them to be active and engaged, because the more they communicate with us, the better we can represent them on Capitol Hill or with the administration.

00:12:59:13 - 00:13:28:16
Tina Freese Decker
I completely agree, and one of the most impactful, stories that I have is when I took one of our lawmakers through our mental health area and just highlighted what we are doing well, but what we need their support in. And then you could see that happen with bills came up and things needed to be impacted. And so I'm sure that there are stories like that in every part of our organizations and our membership about how that personal touch is so incredibly important as we drive forward.

00:13:28:16 - 00:13:37:27
Tina Freese Decker
All right. Are there any last comments, or thoughts on the year ahead that would be most helpful for you and your teams that you want to share with us?

00:13:38:00 - 00:14:02:21
Ashley Thompson
I think it's going to be a very challenging year. I know that the AHA is going to be really working hard on behalf of our members, and I think that the team at is very motivated to do so. Very similar to employees in hospitals, or the staff in the hospitals. I think that we tend to rise when there's a crisis and we rise to that occasion.

00:14:02:21 - 00:14:24:08
Ashley Thompson
And whether it's Covid or whether it was going to be repeal and replace of the ACA a few years ago, several years ago, or whether it's the Change Health care cyber event, I really think that AHA is here to serve its members, to get them through those hard times and to put them on a trajectory in the future.

00:14:24:08 - 00:14:35:13
Ashley Thompson
And I want our members to know that this the staff team at AHA is really committed to doing so, to really making sure that you have the resources that you need in order to care for your patients.

00:14:35:15 - 00:14:44:00
Stacey Hughes
Yeah, so well said. I would just add, you know, we think about the year, reflecting back between Change Healthcare, OneBlood supply in Florida and Baxter.

00:14:44:03 - 00:15:04:12
Stacey Hughes
And that was just weeks ago, if you really think about it in terms of the need for the association with your leadership and others, Tina, to really jump in and problem solve quickly and mitigate those types of issues. But I'll just say going into the year, I think I've kind of beaten that drum a little bit. But you know, we are, as Ashley said, we are working so far, the policy team and others to bring forth data.

00:15:04:18 - 00:15:22:11
Stacey Hughes
One of the ways that we win these battles is being able to tell a story with very specific data. We've got some pretty difficult issues, one of which is extending the ACA subsidies, I think Ashley mentioned. Knowing what that looks like to your hospital. How does it affect your bottom line? How does it affect patients? How does it affect the insurance coverage?

00:15:22:11 - 00:15:45:18
Stacey Hughes
I think that's true for Medicaid. So when we put all this stuff together, really would encourage everyone or field to take that information and help tell the story and amplify as much as we can. We'll do all the work for you in terms of making sure that we get you guys what you need to be able to understand the implications of some of these policies, but really just, welcome everyone's ability to engage with their members of Congress.

00:15:45:18 - 00:15:49:10
Stacey Hughes
So, that's my final note, I would say, Tina, in terms of the year ahead.

00:15:49:13 - 00:16:12:15
Tina Freese Decker
That's perfect. So thank you so much for your time today. And I really enjoy working with you and working with your teams. As you both said: the AHA teams are all in, we're ready to go. We're excited, we're passionate. This is you know what gets us up in the morning moving forward. And we need that partnership with our member hospitals and health systems to make sure we have the data and the stories and the connection there.

00:16:12:18 - 00:16:33:05
Tina Freese Decker
So it really takes this whole ecosystem to come together to make an impact and to make an impact for policies, the regulations that are coming forth, most importantly, so we can do an even better job taking care of our communities and improving health. And so we're so grateful for all the work that you and your teams are doing at the American Hospital Association.

00:16:33:08 - 00:16:50:11
Tina Freese Decker
I know that it's going to be a tough year but with the focus and the energy, I think we can accomplish a lot of things. So thank you so much. To all of our members listening in, thank you so much for joining us today. And we'll be back next month for another Leadership Dialogue conversation.

00:16:50:13 - 00:16:58:24
Tom Haederle
Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.