Michelle Hood
Executive Vice President & COO | AHA Board of Trustees — Member; served on Executive Committee; chaired the board's Operations Committee. | American Hospital Association | President & CEO
Affiliations
- •Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, American Hospital Association (AHA) — Assumed April 2020. Oversees membership, business development, and strategic planning for the ~5,000-hospital trade association. Reports to AHA President & CEO Rick Pollack.
- •President & CEO, Health Forum LLC — AHA's primary for-profit subsidiary. Health Forum provides data products, market intelligence, publishing, educational programs, and sponsorship/marketing services to the healthcare industry. Estimated revenue $10–50 million.
- •President & CEO, Northern Light Health (Brewer, ME) — ~14 years leading a $1.8 billion integrated health system; oversaw addition of 3 hospitals, 4 skilled-nursing facilities, home care, residential hospice, and ground/air ambulance units.
- •President & CEO, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, Montana Region / St. Vincent Healthcare (Billings, MT) — June 2001 to April 2006. Faith-based system leadership.
- •Chief Administrative Officer / SVP, Norton Healthcare (Louisville, KY) — January 2000 to January 2001.
- •Chief Operating Officer, St. Vincent Healthcare (Billings, MT) — January 1993 to January 1999.
- •Associate Hospital Director, Emory University Hospital (Atlanta, GA) — January 1981 to January 1993. Academic medical center experience.
- •AHA Board of Trustees — Member; served on Executive Committee; chaired the board's Operations Committee.
Financial / Compensation
- •Total Revenue: ~$145 million (primarily membership dues, education, licensing).
- •Total Expenses: ~$145 million (compensation $78M; office $18M; travel/conferences $18M; fees for services $18M; ~$2M depreciation).
- •Net Fund Assets: ~$300 million.
- •Total Employees: 431; total compensation pool $78 million; average compensation ~$181,000.
- •Top 16 Executives: Combined compensation of $17 million, ranging from ~$500,000 to ~$3.4 million per individual.
- •Hood is listed as a named officer on the AHA 2023 Form 990 (filed November 2024).
- •Exact individual figures are disclosed on Schedule J of the 990 filing. Based on the compensation range for AHA's top 16 executives ($500K–$3.4M), Hood — as the #2 executive (EVP/COO) — is expected to fall in the upper tier of that range, likely $1.5–2.5 million total compensation (base + bonus + deferred + benefits). The $3.4M ceiling is almost certainly Rick Pollack's package as CEO.
- •Dual-role compensation question: Hood simultaneously serves as AHA EVP/COO and Health Forum President/CEO. It is unclear from public filings whether she receives separate compensation from Health Forum LLC (a for-profit entity whose compensation would not necessarily appear on AHA's 990) or whether her AHA compensation covers both roles. This is a key transparency gap.
Lobbying and Political
- •For context, the entire hospital/health system sector spent ~$116 million on federal lobbying in 2024; AHA alone accounted for roughly 25% of that total.
- •The broader healthcare sector spent ~$750 million on federal lobbying in 2024.
- •Contributions: $3.36 million.
- •Outside spending: $1.83 million.
- •AHA operates a political action committee (AHAPAC) that directs contributions to congressional candidates on key health committees.
- •Medicare for All proposals.
- •Hospital price transparency mandates — AHA filed lawsuits to block CMS rules requiring hospitals to publish negotiated rates.
- •Site-neutral payment proposals — bipartisan legislation that would equalize Medicare payments for the same service regardless of whether it's provided in a hospital outpatient department or a physician's office. This directly protects hospital facility fees.
Red Flags
AHA is a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt trade association. Health Forum LLC is its wholly owned for-profit subsidiary.
Health Forum monetizes the AHA brand, AHA member relationships, and AHA-collected data (particularly the AHA Annual Survey) for commercial profit.
The AHA Annual Survey is filled out by member hospitals as part of their membership relationship with a nonprofit trade association, yet the resulting database is commercially licensed through a for-profit entity. This raises questions about whether member hospitals understand their data is being resold for profit.
Health Forum's sponsorship and Associate Program effectively sell vendor access to AHA's nonprofit membership base — vendors pay for-profit dollars to reach nonprofit-funded audiences.
The structural arrangement allows AHA to generate taxable commercial revenue through Health Forum while maintaining its own tax-exempt status for dues and mission-related activities. The IRS scrutinizes such arrangements under UBIT (Unrelated Business Income Tax) rules, but the structure is designed to insulate the parent.
Hood simultaneously holds the #2 position at the nonprofit AHA and the #1 position at the for-profit Health Forum.
It is not transparent from AHA's 990 filings whether Hood receives additional compensation from Health Forum. If she does, her total compensation across both entities could be significantly higher than what appears on the AHA 990.
If she does not receive separate Health Forum compensation, then AHA's nonprofit is subsidizing the leadership of a for-profit entity — a different kind of conflict.
Either scenario raises governance questions that are not adequately addressed in public disclosures.
First-class travel, companion travel, discretionary spending accounts, and "extremely generous" deferred compensation plans are unusual for a trade association funded by hospital membership dues.
Member hospitals — many of which face financial distress, particularly rural facilities — are effectively funding these executive perks through their dues.
The supplemental non-qualified deferred compensation plan is a wealth-building vehicle typically seen at Fortune 500 corporations, not at nonprofit trade organizations.
AHA's lobbying positions consistently prioritize hospital revenue protection over cost reduction for patients:
Fighting price transparency (opposing patients' right to know what they'll pay).
Opposing site-neutral payments (protecting hospital facility fee markups).
Opposing free care mandates for uninsured patients.
This is particularly problematic given AHA's nonprofit status and stated mission to "advance the health of individuals and communities."
The AHA Annual Survey is the de facto national census of U.S. hospitals. Researchers, policymakers, and commercial entities that need comprehensive hospital data have limited alternatives.
Monetizing this quasi-public-good dataset through a for-profit subsidiary creates a rent-extraction dynamic: hospitals provide data for free as part of membership; Health Forum sells it back to the market.
Open-source research reveals no personal legal issues, ethical violations, or individual controversies attached to Michelle Hood.
However, her dual role places her at the nexus of AHA's most significant institutional tension: the line between nonprofit mission and for-profit monetization.
Pattern Summary
Michelle Hood is a deeply experienced health system operator — 40+ years, 20+ as CEO — who was recruited into AHA's 2 slot in 2020 specifically because she understood the member perspective. Her career arc (academic medical center → faith-based systems → rural integrated delivery system → national trade association) gives her credibility across AHA's diverse membership.