Current News

Week of March 14, 2010

Welcome. If you have a media query, please e-mail Fred Caesar, CHA's liaison to the media.

• UPDATE: Read the latest comments by CHA's President and CEO, Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, on why the time is now for health reform (from the March 15 issue of Catholic Health World).
  
  Watch U.S. Catholic Managing Editor Bryan Cones' interview of Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, the association's president and CEO, regarding the latest developments in the push for health care reform. (Recorded Feb. 26, 2010)
  
  For background on why Catholic health has been so invested in health reform please read Fr. Thomas Nairn's column in the March-April 2010 issue of Health Progress, "Catholics Understand Health Care as a Right." (.pdf)



For the last two years the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) has been guided by the foundational document, "Our Vision for U.S. Health Care" (.pdf), which details the moral case for reform by clearly presenting a set of values and principles. The lead value is: "Human Dignity: Because each person is created in the image of God, each life is sacred and possesses inalienable worth. Health care is essential to promoting and protecting the inherent dignity of every individual from conception to natural death."

Read the thoughts of CHA's Sr. Carol Keehan: "Health Reform Initiatives — Health Reform: Remember Why We Got Into This," in the November-December 2009 issue of Health Progress.

• NEW: Bruce Compton, an administrator skilled in bringing surplus medical supplies from the Midwest to medical missions in developing nations, will join CHA April 1 as senior director of international outreach. Read more from the March 15 Catholic Health World article. And to learn about the Catholic health ministry's response in Haiti please review the information on the webpage "Ministry Support for the People of Haiti."
  
  
• CHA comments regarding the revision to Directive 58 of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Read the News Release. Also see Q & A Regarding the Revision of Directive #58 in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (.pdf). Also read "Q&A The New Directive 58: What Does It Mean?" in the January-February issue of Health Progress. Click here to download a .pdf of the revised edition of the Directives.
  
  
• The IRS Form 990, Schedule H: Community Benefit and Catholic Health Care Governance Leaders (.pdf) — a CHA resource booklet that describes the new IRS Form 990, Schedule H, for hospitals especially what boards need to know about this new IRS reporting requirements, and why community benefit and tax exemption are important issues for Catholic health care.
  
  
• Member news releases of note: To review timely news releases from Catholic health systems and facilities see CHA's News Release Digest.

UPDATED FOR 2010: Did you know that the Catholic health ministry represents the largest not-for-profit provider of health care services in the nation ? In fact, one in six people in the United States who are admitted to a hospital each year receive care in a Catholic acute care facility. For more information about the Catholic health ministry, please check out the Fast Facts section on this website and download for your ready reference the revised "Catholic Health Care in the United States" (January 2010) overview document (.pdf).

To learn more about the association, please download a brief overview document describing the Catholic Health Association (.pdf).

 If you want to receive more information about any of these initiatives, please complete the online request information form.