News Releases, Reports, and Resources for Media

While Pennsylvania has been preparing for disease outbreaks like the pandemic flu and COVID-19 for years, this unprecedented world health crisis has required Pennsylvania’s hospitals and health care professionals to shoulder this tremendous  responsibility. Pennsylvania lawmakers must be prepared to support the health care community to defeat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and successfully treat and protect patients. In a letter to Governor Tom Wolf and legislative leaders, HAP outlined several areas that the hospital community and other providers will need support for short- and long-term response efforts.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf today announced the commonwealth’s first presumptive positive cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Governor Wolf also signed a COVID-19 disaster declaration to support the state's response. Mark Ross, CHEP, vice president, emergency management of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), released the following statement.

Most facilities update their emergency operation plans using paper and ink, a two-thousand year old technology, failing to keep up with a digital world. To solve this problem HAPevolve, a subsidiary company of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) has launched a new tool to help health care facilities streamline emergency preparedness. HAPevolve’s new tool, the Portable Response Emergency Plan (PREP), moves paper emergency operation plans out of a three-ring binder and into a mobile, web-based, customizable solution.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf today delivered his fiscal year 2020–2021 budget address. In part, the $36 billion budget proposal emphasizes investments in workforce initiatives and additional support for vulnerable Pennsylvanians. Andy Carter, President and CEO of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), released a statement outlining the hospital community’s reaction to the address.

A new report released today by The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) shows that the economic impact of Pennsylvania’s hospital community extends far beyond the four walls of each facility, including providing family-sustaining jobs and powering local businesses and suppliers. During fiscal year (FY) 2018, Pennsylvania’s hospitals fueled $136.1 billion in total economic impact and supported nearly 654,000 jobs—more than one of every 10 jobs in the state.