The nation’s top advocacy and lobbying association for hospitals has named Steve Walsh as its upcoming president and CEO, effective this fall.
The American Hospital Association’s appointment, announced Tuesday morning, answers the question of who would replace current head Rick Pollack, who’d announced last December plans to retire.
Walsh comes from the Massachusetts Hospital Association, where he has served as president and CEO since 2017. Walsh will continue to hold his role at the state association until he steps over to the AHA, the state group said in its own statement.
The transition will be a jump from representing more than 70 Bay State hospital and health system members to the AHA’s nearly 5,000-organization membership of hospitals, health systems, networks and other types of providers. It also places Walsh in the captain’s chair as the hospital industry faces substantial policy and political challenges, including sweeping federal funding cuts.
“Steve is the right leader at the right time for America’s hospitals and health systems,” Marc Boom, M.D., chair of the AHA’s Board of Trustees as well as the president and CEO of Houston Methodist, said in the announcement. “As healthcare continues to evolve, we need a leader who can both champion our field and help shape the future. Steve brings the experience, vision and collaborative leadership necessary to guide the Association through this important next chapter.”
Walsh’s hospital lobbying is preceded by six terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. As a legislator he served as a healthcare financing committee chair and heralded a major state healthcare reform law that, among other measures, incentivized alternative payment methodologies, AHA noted in its announcement.
“The next era of American healthcare is bright for the patients and caregivers we serve, all of whom will benefit from our members' unified focus around access, quality and innovation,” Walsh said in the announcement. “To write the next chapter will require creative leadership, hard-earned trust and the willingness to bring unlikely partners to the same table. I am a true believer that hospitals and health systems must be the ones to define that future for the nation given their unique connection with patients and communities.”
The outgoing Pollack, meanwhile, has spent over 40 years with the AHA and was its leader over the past decade. The association has applauded his work securing regulatory flexibilities and financial support through the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighted his focus on strengthening the workforce, patient safety and cybersecurity.
“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to thank Rick for his extraordinary leadership and decades of service to the Association and our nation's hospitals,” Boom said in the announcement. “We are deeply grateful for his contributions and excited for the future under Steve's leadership."
The new CEO will have his work cut out for him as the AHA looks to fend off heightened criticism of the hospital sector over prohibitively high prices. The scrutiny has opened lawmakers to the prospect of substantial policy changes on areas like site-neutral payments, 340B drug discounts and consolidation—and has already led to substantial reductions in states’ supplemental payments that are slated to kick in over the next few years.