[DataDrivenMD]

"The American Hospital Association said the webinar reflected the views of the experts who spoke during it, not its own."

This seems like they're trying to distance themselves from the content, which is odd.

The AHA is huge in terms of lobbying (see https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000116), which makes me wonder if this deck was meant to stimulate contributions from its members. One way to sort it out would be to learn more about the people in the audience and to find out if the speakers were paid consultants.

[hatenberg]

Not a surprise. Nobody wants to openly contradict the president

[DataDrivenMD]

To be clear: I wasn’t making a political point. Just trying to offer an explanation as to why the numbers differ from those that we’re getting from other sources. The AHA has a history of making contributions to both parties. If my hunch is correct, they were using this deck as a way of stimulating their members to make financial contributions that would then be used to lobby on behalf of their members’ interest. It’s an educated guess, not a political stance.