🏥Proposed Changes to Medicare Hospital Payment Systems for 2026
This proposed rule would revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital- related costs of acute care hospitals; make changes relating to Medicare graduate medical education (GME) for teaching hospitals; update the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCHs); update and make changes to requirements for certain quality programs; and make other policy-related changes.
Learn More💵Proposed Medicare Payment Updates for Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities
This rulemaking proposes to update the prospective payment rates, the outlier threshold, and the wage index for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities (IPFs), which include psychiatric hospitals and excluded psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or critical access hospital. This rulemaking also proposes to revise the payment adjustment factors for teaching status and for IPFs located in rural areas. These proposed changes would be effective for IPF discharges occurring during the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. We are proposing to make changes to measures used in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program, to update and codify the Extraordinary Circumstances Exception policy, and to solicit feedback through requests for information on future changes to the IPFQR Program.
Learn More🏥Proposed Payment Changes for Skilled Nursing Facilities in 2026
This proposed rule would change and update policies and payment rates used under the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for FY 2026. This rulemaking also proposes to update the requirements for the SNF Quality Reporting Program and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program.
Learn More🏥Proposed Medicare Payment System Updates for Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
This proposed rule would update the prospective payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2026. As required by statute, this proposed rule includes the proposed classification and weighting factors for the IRF prospective payment system's case-mix groups and a description of the methodologies and data used in computing the prospective payment rates for FY 2026. It also continues the second year of the 3-year phaseout of the rural adjustment, which began in FY 2025. Additionally, the proposed rule includes updates to the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP).
Learn More🏥Proposed FY 2026 Medicare Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update
This proposed rule would update the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. This rule also proposes changes to the admission to hospice regulations and the hospice face-to-face attestation requirements under the certification of terminal illness regulations. This proposed rule also includes a technical correction to the regulatory text and provides updates to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program requirements. Finally, this proposed rule solicits comments regarding requests for information surrounding future measure concepts for Hospice Quality Reporting Program.
Learn More💊Key Medicare and Medicaid Regulatory Changes for 2026
This final rule revises the Medicare Advantage (Part C), Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D), Medicare cost plan, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) regulations to implement changes related to prescription drug coverage, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, dual eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs), Part C and D Star Ratings, and other programmatic areas, including the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. This final rule also codifies existing sub-regulatory guidance in the Part C and Part D programs.
Learn More📡FCC Modifies Letters of Credit Requirements for Broadband Support
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (the Commission) makes targeted modifications to the requirements for letters of credit (LOCs) that recipients of Universal Service Fund (USF) high-cost support awarded through a competitive process must obtain.
Learn More🏥OSHA Terminates COVID-19 Rulemaking for Healthcare Settings
OSHA is terminating its COVID-19 rulemaking.
Learn More🏥Medicare and Medicaid Payment System Corrections for 2025
This document corrects technical and typographical errors in the final rule with comment period that appeared in the November 27, 2024 Federal Register titled "Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems; Quality Reporting Programs, including the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program; Health and Safety Standards for Obstetrical Services in Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals; Prior Authorization; Requests for Information; Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Eligibility; Medicaid Clinic Services Four Walls Exceptions; Individuals Currently or Formerly in Custody of Penal Authorities; Revision to Medicare Special Enrollment Period for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals; and All-Inclusive Rate Add-On Payment for High-Cost Drugs Provided by Indian Health Service and Tribal Facilities".
Learn More🔐Proposed HIPAA Security Rule Enhancements for Cybersecurity Compliance
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or "Department") is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit comment on its proposal to modify the Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information ("Security Rule") under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The proposed modifications would revise existing standards to better protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (ePHI). The proposals in this NPRM would increase the cybersecurity for ePHI by revising the Security Rule to address: changes in the environment in which health care is provided; significant increases in breaches and cyberattacks; common deficiencies the Office for Civil Rights has observed in investigations into Security Rule compliance by covered entities and their business associates (collectively, "regulated entities"); other cybersecurity guidelines, best practices, methodologies, procedures, and processes; and court decisions that affect enforcement of the Security Rule.
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