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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Healthcare quality

Aug 28, 2025 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Conditions of Participation for Hospices; and 2) Blueprint for Approval of State-based Exchange. Comments are due by September 29, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 28, 2025 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) correcting a date in the July 9, 2025, notice.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 25, 2025 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services seeking comment on generic information collections related to Child and Adult Core Set Measures and Health Home Core Set Measures in the Quality Measurement Reporting System. Comments are due by September 8, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 21, 2025 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Health Care Reform Insurance Web Portal Requirements 45 CFR part 159; 2) Supporting Statement for Essential Community Provider Data Collection to Support QHP Certification; and 3) 13th SOW QIN-QIO and AI/AN Advancing Healthcare Quality through Technology (AHQT) Readiness Assessment. Comments are due by September 22, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 14, 2025 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) making technical and typographical corrections to the July 16, 2025, proposed rule.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Notice of a final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for fiscal year 2026. Includes proposals related to admission to hospice regulations and the hospice face-to-face attestation requirements under the certification of terminal illness regulations. This final rule also includes a technical correction to the regulatory text and provides updates to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program requirements. Includes rural references and considerations throughout. These regulations are effective October 1, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Notice of a final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the FY 2026 prospective payment rates, outlier threshold, and wage index for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF), including psychiatric hospitals and excluded psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or Critical Access Hospital. Includes a revision to the payment adjustment factors for teaching status and for IPFs in rural areas. These changes will be effective for IPF discharges occurring during the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. This final rule also includes changes to measures used in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program and changes to update and codify the Extraordinary Circumstances Exception policy. These changes are effective October 1, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Notice of a final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking comments on updates to the prospective payment system for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) for fiscal year 2026. Among other things, this rule proposes classification and weighting factors for the IRF prospective payment system's case-mix groups, continues the second year of the 3-year phase-out of the rural adjustments, and includes proposals for the IRF Quality Reporting Program. This final rule is effective October 1, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 4, 2025 - Notice of final rule from the Centers revising the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals for fiscal year 2026. This rule also makes changes related to Medicare graduate medical education (GME) for teaching hospitals; updates payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals; updates and make changes to requirements for certain quality programs; and finalizes certain updates to the ONC Health Information Technology (IT) Certification Program among other things. These final rules are effective October 1, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 4, 2025 - Notice of final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS) payment rates for fiscal year 2026. Among other things, this rule updates the requirements for the SNF Quality Reporting Program and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program. These regulations are effective October 1, 2025.
Source: Federal Register