The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) released the 2025 dataset on their annual survey of the physical and emotional well-being of children up to age 17 in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Through partnership with FORHP, MCHB also released a data brief on Rural Children’s Health and Well-Being based on the survey taken by parents and caregivers last year.

Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP)-supported research released recently from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center found that, between 2007 and 2023, the percentage of midwife-attended births rose in both rural and urban settings and was higher in states that had full practice authority policies.

Researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the American College of Nurse-Midwives, which defines full practice authority as state-level policy allowing certified nurse midwives (CNMs) and Certified Midwives (CM) to practice to the full extent of their education, training, and certification without required oversight by a physician.

The University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center has several completed projects on midwifery care for rural residents and many others on subjects related to rural maternity care on the FORHP-supported Rural Health Research Gateway.

New findings from HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) demonstrate the positive impact of HRSA funding on improving access and outcomes for rural residents living with HIV and AIDS. The Ryan White HIV AIDS programs funds cities, counties, states, and local community-based organizations to provide HIV care, treatment, and essential services to more than 600,000 people across the United States and U.S. territories.

This fact sheet gives an overview of HAB’s activities in rural areas for the year 2024 with data on services delivered, impact, and available resources.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized this rule, which will test whether using international drug prices to calculate manufacturer rebates for certain high-cost Medicare Part B drugs can reduce costs for beneficiaries and Medicare while preserving or improving quality of care.

Drug manufacturers included in the model will be required to participate and may owe rebates to Medicare when U.S. drug prices are higher than prices in economically comparable countries. The model will operate in randomly selected geographic areas, and beginning April 1, 2027, eligible beneficiaries in those areas may pay lower coinsurance when they receive a GLOBE drug. Health care providers are not model participants and will continue to buy, bill, and receive payment for these drugs as usual; when beneficiary coinsurance is reduced, Medicare will increase its share of the payment so that the Medicare allowed amount does not decrease.

For drugs purchased through the 340B Drug Pricing Program, CMS will exclude 340B billing units when calculating manufacturer rebates under GLOBE and will monitor the model’s potential effects on 340B drug prices. The model begins January 1, 2027; CMS will publish the selected geographic areas by ZIP Code by January 16, 2027; and the five performance years will run from April 1, 2027, through March 31, 2032.

The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury finalized changes to federal Transparency in Coverage requirements intended to make health plan pricing information easier to access, compare, and use.

The final rule requires non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers to standardize and improve their publicly available machine-readable pricing files, including by reporting in-network rates at the provider-network level, adding information about provider utilization and specialty, and making files easier to locate on plan and issuer websites. The rule also reduces required updates for in-network and out-of-network pricing files from monthly to quarterly and expands the amount of out-of-network pricing information reported.

Beginning with plan or policy years on or after January 1, 2027, plans and issuers must also make certain individualized cost-sharing information available by phone, in addition to existing online and paper options.

Presented by the National Association of Community Health Centers, this resource showcases innovative partnerships between health centers and rural hospitals that are redefining how communities address workforce shortages, access barriers, and population health challenges.

Drawing from successful collaborations in three states, these case studies illustrate how shared vision, coordinated services, and community-centered investments can build adaptable rural health systems and advance long-term community well-being.