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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Healthcare facilities

Apr 30, 2026 - Announces proposed bipartisan legislation to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration program 5 more years. RCHD allows for innovative hospital payment model testing under Medicare to maintain healthcare access for rural communities.
Source: Office of Senator Chuck Grassley
Apr 24, 2026 - Health Affairs has issued a call for journal articles focusing on age-friendly health including a focus on rural topics such as innovation in rural delivery of long-term services and supports, addressing rural care gaps associated with nursing home closures, and the impact of payment policies that boost rural home health supply in addition to workforce, caregiving, social determinants of health, technology, and more. Articles will be considered on an ongoing basis through June 2028.
Source: Health Affairs
Apr 24, 2026 - Order from the Federal Communications Commission waiving certain program rules for the Rural Health Care Program providers impacted by Hurricane Milton. Highlights changes to deadlines for appeals and waivers, information requests, and invoices as well as document retention rules.
Source: Universal Service Administrative Co.
Apr 23, 2026 - Announces the National Rural Health Association's top 20 Critical Access Hospitals as well as 40 hospitals receiving best practice designations for either quality of care or patient perspective of hospital performance. Award winners will be recognized at the NRHA Critical Access Hospital Conference in September.
Source: National Rural Health Association
Apr 22, 2026 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) Regulations and 2) Granting and Withdrawal of Deeming Authority to Private Nonprofit Accreditation Organizations and CLIA Exemption Under State Laboratory Programs. Comments are due by June 22, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 22, 2026 - The Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) is seeking comments on an information collection regarding revisions to multiple forms used for management of the Health Center Program. Comments are due by May 22, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 20, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking comments on a proposed information collection titled "Submissions of Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) Waiver Submission and Data Collection." The AHCAH initiative was codified in the Consolidate Appropriations Act, 2025. As a result, the AHCAH information collection request is being separated from the 1135 waiver information collection request. Comments are due by June 22, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 20, 2026 - A private insurance company has announced a pilot program that exempts many rural providers from most prior authorization requirements, increases payment speeds, and introduces a hub-and-spoke model of care to connect rural communities with regional expertise. The program, initially available in 4 states, is expanding to an additional 5 states now.
Source: UnitedHealth Group Newsroom
Apr 16, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) making technical corrections to the April 14, 2026, proposed rule. Comments on the proposed rule are due by June 9, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 14, 2026 - Notice of proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposing to improve the electronic exchange of healthcare data and streamline processes related to prior authorization by increasing the interoperability of systems used across the healthcare industry. Among other things, this rule proposes new requirements for Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations, state Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS) programs, state Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) FFS programs, Medicaid managed care plans, CHIP managed care entities, and Qualified Health Plan (QHP) issuers on the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFEs) to make electronic prior authorization for drugs available; to report their application programming interfaces (API) endpoints and related information for the Patient Access, Provider Directory, Provider Access, Payer-to-Payer, and Prior Authorization APIs to CMS; and extend many existing interoperability requirements for the prior authorization of non-drug items and services to include prior authorizations for drugs. In addition, ONC proposes adopting updated versions of certain health information technology (health IT) standards and specifications for HHS use. Comments are due by June 15, 2026.
Source: Federal Register