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Rural Health
News by Topic: Legislation and regulations

May 29, 2026 - Notice of proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposing revisions to the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to improve government-wide policies and requirements related to the management of grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of assistance. These revisions are intended to improve transparency, accountability, and oversight for federal awards across. Among other things, this rule proposes elimination of fixed amount awards and fixed amount subawards, proposed payment accountability reforms, reforms related to subrecipient oversight, and changes to national policy provisions. Comments are due by July 13, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 29, 2026 - Pre-publication notice of a final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating and revising the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model (IOTA Model) for Performance Year (PY) 2. The IOTA Model tests whether performance-based upside risk payments or downside risk payments paid to or owed by participating kidney transplant hospitals increase access to kidney transplants for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) while preserving or enhancing the quality of care and reducing Medicare expenditures. This rule is effective 30 days after the publication of this notice, which is scheduled for June 1, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 26, 2026 - Notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announcing a virtual town hall meeting schedule to allow external stakeholders an additional opportunity to provide input on refining the scope and burden of the April 4, 2024, Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Meetings are scheduled for June 15 – 18, 2026, from 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Registration is required.
Source: Federal Register
May 22, 2026 - Notice of proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describing alternatives to modify the limit on the total payment rate and other requirements for State directed payments in Medicaid managed care. This rule also proposes to set a limit for certain targeted Medicaid payments in Medicaid fee-for-service. Includes rural considerations throughout. Comments are due July 21, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 22, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services making technical and typographical corrections to the April 14, 2026, proposed rule. Comments on the proposed rule are due by June 9, 2026.
May 21, 2026 - Announces proposed legislation to extend the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration (RCHD) Program for 5 more years. RCHD allows for innovative hospital payment models to support rural facilities.
Source: Office of Representative Randy Feenstra
May 20, 2026 - Notice of final rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services containing methods to improve the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including payment parameters and provisions related to the HHS-operated risk adjustment and risk adjustment data validation (HHS-RADV) programs. Among other things, this rule also contains 2027 user fee rates for qualified health plans (QHPs) through Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFEs) and State-based Exchanges on the Federal platform (SBE-FPs). This rule is effective July 20, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 19, 2026 - Congresswoman Kim Schrier of Washington, along with representatives Randy Feenstra of Iowa, Jill Tokuda of Hawaii, and Darin LaHood of Illinois have reintroduced the Rural Maternity Options for Medical Support Act. This legislation would allow Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to count labor and delivery beds separate from acute care rooms, allowing hospitals to offer these services without putting their CAH status in jeopardy.
Source: Office of Congresswoman Kim Schrier (WA)
May 15, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcing a 6-month nationwide moratorium on the Medicare enrollment of home health agencies. The moratorium takes effect on May 13, 2026.
Source: Federal Register
May 15, 2026 - Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcing a 6-month nationwide moratorium on the Medicare enrollment of hospices. The moratorium takes effect on May 13, 2026.
Source: Federal Register