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Governmental relations is an original
core service provided by MHA for its membership
and is primarily supported by
member dues. The governmental
relations staff is charged with two
essential responsibilities.
- public policy formulation
- representation and advocacy
Public policy formulation includes
the development and advocacy of
sound public policy that supports
hospitals and health systems in
advancing the health status of
Missourians.
Representation and advocacy
responsibilities require MHA’s
governmental relations staff to
represent the interests of members
in the legislative and executive
branches of federal, state and local
governments. The governmental
relations staff’s principal focus is
federal and state legislative
activities. MHA staff coordinates
federal advocacy initiatives with
the staff of the American Hospital
Association and provides leadership
in the Missouri General Assembly by
supporting legislation beneficial to
the hospital community and opposing
legislation that is detrimental to
Missouri’s hospitals. Two significant
advocacy accomplishments by MHA
include the following.
In addition to legislative advocacy,
the governmental relations staff interacts with federal and state
officials to shape the regulatory
activities of many federal and state
agencies. This involves analyzing
rules and regulations proposed by
federal and state agencies and
providing comments, where
appropriate.
The governmental relations program
is staffed by employees with a mix
of hospital administrative, clinical
and financial experience and
extensive experience in key state
government legislative or regulatory
roles.
The governmental relations staff serves members in the following ways.
-
managing governmental relations
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federal legislative advocacy and policy development
-
state legislative advocacy and policy development
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state and federal regulatory advocacy, including Medicaid (MO HealthNet) and the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, Medicare and hospital licensure, among others
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