Advocacy Correspondence: PA House Final Consideration, House Bill 1460

June 10, 2025

Honorable Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives:

On behalf of more than 235 members statewide, The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) writes today in opposition of House Bill 1460, Printer’s No. 1871, sponsored by Representative Lisa Borowski, which is scheduled for a final vote before the full House of Representatives today.

Ahead of the vote on the legislation in the Health Committee and on the House floor, HAP has consistently reinforced key points for lawmakers’ consideration. These include:

• There is a recognized desire to add statutory guardrails around the purchase and ownership of health care entities where none exist today and where such guardrails would help preserve access to care in communities long term.
• Pennsylvania’s hospitals act individually and together with a myriad of partners across the health care delivery landscape to provide access to vital services communities expect and depend on.
• These partnerships preserve access and accelerate the delivery of modern and transformative health care.
• Pennsylvania should not become an outlier among states—discouraging routine transactions, joint ventures, and partnerships that aim to preserve access to health care in communities. 
• Legislation must not unintentionally result in an overcorrection to the identified problem by stifling the variety of current and future business arrangements between hospitals and their partners.

The amendments adopted in Committee and on second consideration in the House amounted to incremental improvements in the language. However, the changes fall short of an agreed to legislative product. As such, HAP remains opposed.

While unable to support House Bill 1460, Printer’s No. 1871, HAP remains committed to the legislative process and looks forward to continuing conversations to further refine language—language which reflects the complexity of health care transactions, balances the ability for hospitals and health systems to engage in partnerships to maintain access to health care in communities across the commonwealth, and narrows the scope of businesses and transactions subject to review.

Please contact me or Sarah Lawver, HAP’s senior director, state advocacy, with any questions.

Sincerely,
 

Arielle Chortanoff
Vice President, State Advocacy

 

 

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Topics: Access to Care, State Advocacy

Revision Date: 6/10/2025

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