This AHA statement was updated in 1990 in a management advisory released by AHA's Institutional Practices Committee. AHA recommended that health care institutions prepare annual financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. AHA also encouraged institutions to provide supplementary information in the form of an annual report to explain its financial statements. There are various methods for collecting and disclosing financial and operating information about healthcare providers. Many Medicare and other cost information reports are publicly available and the data included in those reports are compiled by and available through commercial services.
Most states have agencies that collect healthcare data.
State and Federal agencies, payers, and others that collect data are using increasingly sophisticated methods to collect data and are striving to improve comprehensiveness, timeliness, accuracy, and comparability of information. The disclosure demands in the current environment, however, are far more extensive than the information contained in general purpose, external financial statements, their supplemental schedules, or other publicly available sources of information. In view of the extensive data already provided, many healthcare providers question the demands for additional information, and consider such demands unreasonably burdensome and intrusive. Competition among healthcare providers also necessitates a degree of confidentiality. However, healthcare providers are recognizing that failure to fulfill demands for financial or operating information raises questions, fosters mistrust, and interferes with the positive, constructive relationship that should exist between healthcare providers and the various agencies, organizations, and individuals that seek data.