State Advocacy

In today’s rapidly changing health care environment, hospitals face many challenges – from workforce shortages and costs and supply chain disruptions to emergency response needs and financing and reimbursement changes. The Florida Hospital Association provides its members with the necessary leadership and effective advocacy to address these challenges and help build and sustain a world-class health system for all Floridians.

Legislative Priorities

Growing The Health Care Workforce

FHA works with lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders to address critical workforce shortages, the exponential growth in staffing costs, and other workforce challenges.

Preserving Health Care Funding

FHA advocates for a state budget that appropriately and fairly covers the cost of health care, particularly for those in the Medicaid program.

Increasing Access To Behavioral Health

FHA supports policies and funding that increase access to community-based behavioral health care services and reduces reliance on hospital emergency departments.

Holding Payors Accountable

FHA pursues policy solutions to address barriers to high-quality, timely patient care and advocates for increased accountability and transparency among health care payors.

Eliminating Over-Regulation

FHA opposes burdensome and duplicative regulatory and statutory requirements that detract from patient care and add to health care costs.

Rural Hospital Issues

FHA supports policy and funding to modernize and harden rural hospital facilities in a systematic and equitable way that will strengthen Florida’s entire healthcare network.

FHA 2026 Legislative Report

During the 2026 Legislative Session, the Florida Hospital Association advocated on critical issues impacting Florida hospitals, including payor accountability, workforce shortages, behavioral health, and efforts to roll back tort reform. Through sustained engagement with lawmakers and strong member advocacy, the association helped defeat harmful proposals that would have increased regulatory burdens, operational challenges, and liability for hospitals. These efforts help ensure Florida hospitals can continue meeting the evolving needs of the patients and communities they serve.