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Rural Health Information Hub
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Policy

Aug 5, 2025 - Announces a virtual public meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Classifications and Public Health Data Standards, ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance (C&M) Committee to be held on September 9-10, 2025. The agenda includes a discussion of ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS topics, a list of which is provided in the notice.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) Request for Termination of Medicare Premium Part A, Part B, or Part B Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage (Part B-ID) and Supporting Statute and Regulations; and 2) Appointment of Representative. Comments are due by September 4, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Quarterly listing of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) manual instructions, substantive and interpretive regulations, and Federal Register notices published from April through June 2025, including contact information for general questions or additional information about specific sections.
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 5, 2025 - Notice from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) seeking comments on an information collection titled "Application and Other Forms Used by the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship Program, the NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program, and the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program, OMB No. 0915-0146-Revision." Proposed revisions include adding a proof of citizenship document and essay to the application packet for both the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship Program (SP) and NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (S2S LRP). HRSA also proposes to convert the Enrollment Verification Form to an electronic workflow called In-School Verification. Comments are due by October 6, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Request for comments from the Health Resources and Services Administration on an information collection titled "Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative Triannual Report OMB No. 0915-0051—Extension." HRSA proposes to revise a footnote to provide clarity on existing instruction. Comments are due October 6, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Aug 5, 2025 - Announcement from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service of funding available for the Housing Preservation Grant program. The program will provide disaster assistance through grants or loans to repair or rehabilitate houses in rural areas impacted by Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Helene in Tennessee. Applications are due September 4, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Related funding: Rural Housing Preservation Grants (Section 533)
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