Chair File: Leadership Dialogue — The Importance of the 340B Program with Aimee Kuhlman of the AHA and Paulette Davidson of Monument Health

Nov 24, 2025 - 11:47 AM by
Tina Freese Decker, Chair, American Hospital Association
Leadership Dialogue: A Conversation with AHA Chair Tina Freese Decker, AHA Vice President Aimee Kuhlman and Monument Health President and CEO Paulette Davidson

For more than 30 years, the 340B Drug Pricing Program has provided financial help to hospitals serving vulnerable communities to manage rising prescription drug costs. The savings it generates allows hospitals to stretch limited resources, sustain vital services and expand access to care where it’s needed most. Currently, 340B is a key priority for the AHA as this program is at risk as potential regulatory, legal and legislative changes in 2026 could diminish these benefits.

In this Leadership Dialogue, I am joined by Aimee Kuhlman, AHA vice president of advocacy grassroots and government relations, and Paulette Davidson, CEO of Monument Health based in Rapid City, S.D. We discuss why the 340B program is important to patients, providers and communities and what’s at stake as changes loom in 2026. Also, we learn how Monument Health uses 340B savings to expand access to care and services in the community, and how we can take action to support participating hospitals by continuing to tell local stakeholders and elected officials the many stories of how the 340B program improves people’s lives.

I hope you find this conversation insightful and strategic. I will be back next month for one last Leadership Dialogue conversation, with incoming AHA Board Chair Marc Boom, M.D.

This conversation was recorded on Nov. 17, 2025. 

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