On May 30, 2025, President Trump released his FY 2026 President's Budget proposal which calls on Congress to eliminate bipartisan, fundamental, and longstanding rural health programs, such as the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility program, Small Hospital Improvement...

Several key rural health programs at the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) need to be authorized in statute or are up for reauthorization.  “Authorization” and “reauthorization” mean that programs need language in a statute in order to be established...

On January 30, 2026, the Medicare-Dependent Hospital designation, Low-Volume Hospital payment adjustment, rural ground ambulance add-on payments, and Medicare telehealth flexibilities will expire. NRHA urges Congress to permanently extend or enact at least a 5-year...

Representative Graves (R-MO) and Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) reintroduced H.R. 3684, the Save America’s Rural Hospitals Act. This bill proposes to address key financial and administrative challenges that rural hospitals currently face. The Save...

Site-neutral payment policies aim to equalize Medicare reimbursement for outpatient services between hospital off-campus departments and physicians’ offices. Site-neutral proposals currently circulating would pay for services provided at off-campus departments at the lower...

Enhanced premium tax credits (ePTCs) provide additional subsidies to people who are eligible for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Marketplace premium tax credits and are also available to qualifying individuals with an annual income equivalent to 400% of the federal poverty...