Cooler weather is returning to Sacramento. Football season is beginning, students are back in school, and we are entering the home stretch of 2026.
For Hospital Council, this is the time to turn the lessons of a demanding year into a focused advocacy agenda for 2027.
Our board met last week and considered a critical question: Of all the challenges facing hospitals, which one should command our greatest attention?
Four priorities emerged:
- Preparing for the effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Our warnings about how OBBBA will reshape patient care in California are producing action. Counties are identifying additional resources, preparing for new work requirements and enrollment processes, and working to prevent eligible patients from losing coverage. With major changes taking effect in January, Hospital Council will continue working with hospitals, counties, and policymakers to protect coverage and access.
- Holding the Office of Health Care Affordability accountable. OHCA continues to advance policies without sufficient regard for their consequences for patients and financially vulnerable hospitals. That includes its recent approval of a penalty structure that jeopardizes patient care. We will keep pressing for an affordability strategy that recognizes the realities of providing care and protects access in every community.
- Strengthening hospitals’ financial stability. Inflation is increasing labor, supply, pharmaceutical, and operating costs. Hospitals expect to care for more uninsured Californians in 2027, while Medicare and Medi-Cal payments remain far below the cost of care. We will make certain policymakers understand what financial instability means for emergency services, the health care workforce, and patient access.
- Finding a workable path to 2030 seismic compliance. The deadline for hospitals to remain fully operational following an earthquake is approaching quickly. Hospitals need solutions that advance seismic safety while preserving access and recognizing the extraordinary costs involved. We will continue advocating for a practical path that protects patients and communities.
These are not abstract policy questions. They affect whether hospitals can recruit caregivers, maintain essential services, invest in their facilities, and remain available whenever their communities need them.
The board’s guidance will help shape Hospital Council’s work through the remainder of 2026 and our advocacy agenda for 2027. We also need to hear from you.
Please take a few minutes to answer one question:
Biggest Challenges Facing Hospitals in 2027
The challenges are serious, but so is this field’s strength. More than 200 Hospital Council member hospitals are led by people who solve difficult problems every day while remaining focused on their patients and communities.
Hospital Council will bring those voices together and turn their experience into action. We will speak forcefully and plainly about the consequences of policy decisions, build partnerships around workable solutions, and remain at the table when conversations become difficult.
You care for California’s communities. You can count on Hospital Council to have your back.
Together, we will make sure the collective voice of hospitals is heard clearly in every fight ahead.