June 04, 2010 01:34am EST 

When a child first experiences a hospital for say, a broken arm, they are greeted with caring nurses, knowledgeable physicians, and extensive medical equipment. They leave the thinking that hospitals are a place where healing occurs, and smile. For hospitals to be empowered to provide high quality care and medical treatment, they must have competent medical staff, sufficient funds, and proper legislative representation.
Fortunately, in the United States, there are hospital associations representing every state in the nation. These organizations promote the quality provision of health care by hospitals and health care networks through their myriad of efforts. Hospitals and health systems generally make up the members of each association, though some health professionals and health-related institutions may also serve as members.
Each organization varies in services provided to their members. The majority of the organizations, however, focus their efforts on representation and advocacy in both state and federal legislation. Acting as the unified voice of their members’ interests, hospital associations fight for beneficial bills and defend their members from damaging bills. Other common efforts include:
Education: Hospitals serve their community in more ways than just providing medical care to their patients. They also provide community service, education, and economic impact. That being said, hospital associations also focus their efforts on providing education to their members, usually in the form of continuing education for medical professionals. These educational efforts are usually webinars, conferences, or lectures, and the calendars are usually posted on the websites.
Research: Many hospital associations also conduct research in the interests of their members. Research topics include health and hospital trends and policy research.
Communication: Hospital associations also act as a liaison between hospitals, health systems, other health-related institutions and their community, patients, and colleagues. They bring all of these parties together, offering communication necessary to provide high quality health care.
With all of these efforts together, one can see how important hospital associations are to the function of their member hospitals and health organizations. From taking care of a child’s broken arm to the research facilities searching for a cure to cancer, the medical services offered to patients is just one way that the hospital benefits their community. Since hospitals contribute billions to the economy every year in the form of jobs, it is also important for hospital associations to look out for the interests of the millions of hospital employees.
While advocacy and representation is usually the focal point of hospital associations, they also provide education, research, and communication. Their existence is vital to a hospital’s ability to function as a collaborative institution.
Physicians, nurses, and other hospital staff all benefit from their respective hospital associations, whether it be through a webinar that teaches patient safety or a bill that would cut funding being rejected.