Chief executive officers, senior executives and trustees from the nation’s top hospitals and health systems recently attended a conference in Washington, D.C.
Schneck Medical Center in Seymour was among those represented at the American Hospital Association’s annual membership meeting April 24 to 26.
During Monday night’s board of trustees meeting, Schneck officials who were there shared what they experienced and how it benefited them and the hospital.
They included Dr. Eric Fish, president and CEO of Schneck; Rick Smith, chairman of the hospital board; Susan Bevers, a hospital board member; Amy Pettit, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer; and Susan Zabor, vice president of clinical services.
They were part of discussions that focused on the advocacy, regulatory and legislative issues that affect the nation’s patients, hospitals and communities.
The annual meeting was canceled the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year’s event was redesigned to maximize networking and bring attendees insights from legislators, journalists and thought leaders impacting health policy.
Smith said one of the legislative issues brought before attendees had to do with protecting health care workers.
“I don’t think that’s any surprise,” he said. “That’s a major issue today with the violence in the workplace.”
Policies that attract physicians to underserved areas, the shortage of physicians and nurses and access to health care also were discussed.
“They are trying to bolster support for nursing schools and faculty to help with the issue hospitals are going through today for availability,” Smith said.
Having representatives from the Indiana Hospital Association and Hoosier hospitals there was value-added, he said.
“I appreciate the opportunity to attend,” Smith said. “It was time well spent, and certainly, the American Hospital Association was glad to reconvene their annual meeting since it has been postponed by COVID.”
Bevers lauded Smith for being a presenter on a panel discussing how hospitals, including Schneck, were prepared and adapted their preparedness to the pandemic.
She said attendees praised him for giving value-added discussion and real-world examples.
“I think considering we are a small hospital, we were much more nimble than what the larger health systems were. That certainly came through some of the comments I heard from other attendees,” Bevers said. “Rick presented very, very well and represented our hospital very, very well.”
On the last day, the Schneck group was accompanied by Indiana Hospital Association representatives on visits with Mike Braun and Todd Young, both U.S. senators representing Indiana, on Capitol Hill.
IHA officials met with Schneck officials the night before to give them an indication of some of the legislative issues they are going to bring before the legislators.
“Both were very gracious to meet with us,” Fish said. “I think AHA does a great job of getting all of the hospitals together and kind of going as one unified voice as hospitals. I thought all in all, it was a really good visit.”
The featured speakers at the meeting included U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former senior adviser to the Biden Administration COVID response Andy Slavitt, U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.