Michael A. Slubowski
President & CEO | AHA Board of Trustees Member | Trinity Health
Affiliations
- •Universal Technical Institute (UTI) — publicly traded (NYSE: UTI) trade and technical college for skilled trades and healthcare careers
- •Catholic Health Association committees and advisory groups
- •President, Health Networks, Trinity Health — prior to Trinity's 2013 merger with Catholic Health East, overseeing network operations
- •President & CEO, SCL Health (Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System), Denver, CO — seven-year tenure (approx. 2010–2017) leading a 12-hospital, 15,000-employee system across three states; credited with innovation and transformation
- •Executive leadership, Henry Ford Health System — Detroit, MI
- •Executive leadership, Samaritan Health Services — Phoenix, AZ
- •Executive leadership, Providence Hospital — Southfield, MI
Financial / Compensation
- •Annual operating revenue: $23.9 billion
- •Self-reported community benefit: $1.3 billion annually (charity care + other community benefit combined)
- •System faces a self-described $1 billion annual budget gap due to vendor cost increases and reimbursement rates below inflation. CEO Slubowski characterized this as "death by a thousand cuts."
- •Trinity's 93 hospitals include numerous 340B-eligible disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) and critical access hospitals
- •340B hospitals nationally deliver 77% of all hospital Medicaid care and 67% of all uncompensated/unreimbursed care
- •340B hospitals devote 29% more resources to low-income/uninsured patients than non-340B hospitals (2022 data)
- •Trinity has been vocal in opposing drug manufacturer efforts to restrict 340B pricing and in fighting proposed OPPS rule changes that would reduce 340B reimbursement
- •The system's advocacy arm partners with CHA, Catholic Charities USA, USCCB, and "The Partnership for Medicaid" coalition
Lobbying and Political
- •Trinity Health spent $1.6 million on federal lobbying in 2024, placing it among the top-spending health systems nationally
- •For context, the hospital/health system sector collectively spent $116 million on federal lobbying in 2024
- •Peer comparators: Advocate Health ($2.42M), Tenet Healthcare ($2.2M) — Trinity's spending is significant but not the highest among large systems
- •340B Program preservation: Trinity actively opposes pharmaceutical manufacturer efforts to restrict 340B drug pricing and fights proposed CMS rule changes (OPPS) that would reduce 340B reimbursement rates
- •Medicaid protection: Active in opposing Medicaid cuts under budget reconciliation; partners with "The Partnership for Medicaid" coalition
- •Site-neutral payment opposition: Likely opposes site-neutral payment policies that would reduce hospital outpatient department reimbursement
- •Trinity's advocacy team coordinates with CHA, Catholic Charities USA, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- •Slubowski's January 2026 election to the AHA Board of Trustees gives him a direct seat at the table for the hospital industry's primary federal lobbying apparatus
Red Flags
Elective contraception (pills, IUDs, patches, rings)
Elective sterilization (tubal ligations, vasectomies)
Elective abortion
Many infertility treatments
Some forms of miscarriage management
Research shows Catholic hospital acquisitions reduce tubal ligation rates by 31% per bed
Tubal ligation is the second most common contraception method among U.S. women; ~700,000 performed annually, half post-delivery
In one Texas study, nearly 50% of women denied post-delivery tubal ligation had an unplanned pregnancy within 12 months
One-third of women whose primary hospital is Catholic are unaware of its Catholic affiliation; only 24% of Catholic hospitals mention ERDs on their websites
Women of color and Medicaid patients are disproportionately affected
Case study: A Michigan patient (Kalaina Sullivan) sought sterilization surgery, was refused by Trinity, went to an independent hospital — which Trinity then acquired, eliminating the alternative
MercyOne acquisition: Trinity absorbed MercyOne's 16 medical centers and 400+ sites of care in Iowa, adding $3 billion in revenue — a "mega" deal that significantly expanded Trinity's Midwest footprint
Premier Health acquisition and other transactions bring total known acquisitions to at least 6
Rural/regional market dominance concern: When Trinity acquires a community's only or primary hospital, patients lose access to reproductive health services with no local alternative. The Sullivan case illustrates this directly — an independent hospital was absorbed, eliminating a reproductive care option
Divestiture: Trinity Health System (3 hospitals in eastern Ohio) is being negotiated for sale to UPMC/CommonSpirit, suggesting selective portfolio management
Academic research confirms that hospital consolidation leads to higher prices, and a dominant system can leverage market power in one region to negotiate higher prices in another
43% of 2025 healthcare M&A transactions involved financially distressed parties — acquisition targets may have limited bargaining power
Pattern Summary
The Core Tension: Michael Slubowski leads a $23.9 billion tax-exempt Catholic health system that simultaneously (a) claims $1.3 billion in annual community benefit to justify its tax exemptions, (b) carries a $784 million "fair share deficit" indicating it receives far more in tax breaks than it gives back, (c) pays its CEO $5.3 million annually, (d) restricts access to basic reproductive health services across 93 hospitals in 26 states, and (e) aggressively acquires community hospitals — eliminating local alternatives for patients who need the very services Trinity's religious directives proh