President's Message

Posted on: 4/19/24

This week, OHA members joined hospitals from across the country at the annual meeting of the American Hospital Association in Washington, D.C.

The meeting was packed full of national healthcare and political leaders, as well as speakers focused on some of the biggest challenges the healthcare field is experiencing. Following the meeting, OHA briefed the Oklahoma congressional delegation and their staffs on three priorities for the congressional year, which included the impact Medicare Advantage is having on hospitals, the erosion of 340B benefits in our state, and the risks of site neutral payment changes.

I want to thank our members who participated in this year‘s meeting. We spent time advocating for hospitals, our patients and team members as well as engaging in great networking with colleagues. Perhaps one of the highlights was our dinner at the home of President Woodrow Wilson, where we were joined by members of the Kansas Hospital Association.

We hope many of you who could not participate will join us next year.

Just a couple of reminders for next week – there is still time to sign up for our lunch and learn on April 25 focused on the development of OHA’s health insurance captive for interested members. A link to signup is in this week’s Hotline. Also, you may be contacted and asked to participate in sharing your views on the development of OHA’s primary care strategy. As part of SoonerSelect, our state needs to spend 11% of its Medicaid dollars on primary care. Today, we are spending just 5.5% on primary care. How do we get there, well that’s what we hope to develop over the summer. Your participation is appreciated.  

Whether we’re meeting with our congressional delegation, helping to support cost saving measures through our insurance services, or developing a strategy for improving primary care, all of these efforts and more are part of our commitment to improving health and healthcare in Oklahoma.

Rich Rasmussen
President & CEO