KFF is tracking health-related provisions of the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Bill passed by the House, specific to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Health Savings Accounts. The summary highlights sections of the House bill and compares changes to the current law. Of note, as it is currently drafted, the timeline for many of the provisions to take effect, if passed, would be enacted immediately, with others beginning as early as Jan. 1, 2026.

The federal departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury took action to advance President Trump’s directive to ensure Americans have clear, accurate, and actionable information about healthcare prices. The departments jointly issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public input on how to improve prescription drug price transparency. The agencies also released updated guidance for health plans and issuers that sets a clear applicability date for publishing an enhanced technical format for disclosures.

These improvements are designed to eliminate meaningless or duplicative data and make cost information easier for consumers to understand and use. Separately, CMS released new guidance, available on the Hospital Price Transparency resources website, to strengthen the Hospital Price Transparency requirements, requiring hospitals to post the actual prices of items and services, not estimates. CMS also issued its own RFI to gather public feedback on how to boost hospital compliance and enforcement and ensure data shared is accurate and complete. See the full press release for more information.

On May 22, the Presidential Commission to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) released its report on childhood chronic disease, per the President’s executive order in February. The “Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment” report details potential drivers of childhood chronic disease in America: improper diets, environmental toxins, reduced physical activity levels, high chronic stress levels, and increased use of pharmaceuticals. Notably, this section also includes information on childhood vaccines and argues that the vaccine schedule has grown rapidly without sufficient guardrails or nuanced debate.

The assessment calls for the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to close research gaps in children’s health; bolster pediatric drug safety monitoring; utilize artificial intelligence to provide real-time surveillance; invest in alternative testing models; and expand data initiatives, like the NIH-CMS autism data initiative, to study childhood chronic diseases.

The MAHA Commission will now work to create the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy based on the report’s findings, with publication due in less than 80 days. Following the report’s release, RFK Jr. released a statement on May 27 that the CDC will no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for “healthy” children and pregnant women.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recently shared information about updating the grading criteria for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) on Sept. 23, 2025. HRSA will incorporate new regulatory and census data changes to update HPSA scores. HRSA encourages interested stakeholders to contact their state Primary Care Offices for more information about this process.

Pennsylvania will lose out on more than $35 million in federal funding to expand high-speed internet access after the Trump administration abruptly canceled two grant programs that were part of former President Joe Biden’s push to bring broadband to everyone in the U.S. The move came shortly after President Donald Trump declared the underlying law “racist” and “wholly unconstitutional” in a social media post in early May. The funding was created by the Digital Equity Act, part of the sweeping infrastructure package that passed Congress with bipartisan support in 2021. The decision affects more than $2.5 billion in grants to states, as well as local governments, nonprofits, and universities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center is implementing changes to the ACO REACH Model, starting in Performance Year (PY) 2026.  The changes are based on early findings in a preview of the PY 2023 Evaluation Report; CMS aims to improve the model’s sustainability by adjusting the financial methodology.

ACO REACH is an advanced accountable care organization (ACO) initiative that provides novel tools, payment methodologies, and resources for primary care and specialty care providers to work together to support delivery of care and improve population health of beneficiaries in Traditional Medicare. In 2025, over 900 Federally Quality Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, and Critical Access Hospitals participated in ACO REACH.

Click here for more information.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who collaborate with the aim of coordinating high-quality care to people with Medicare. When an ACO succeeds in both delivering high-quality care and spending health care dollars more wisely, the ACO may be eligible to share in the savings it achieves for the Medicare program (also known as performance payments).

In Phase 1 of the application process, ACOs must submit applications through the Accountable Care Organization Management System.  Certain new ACOs, including those in rural areas, may be eligible for Advance Incentive Payments, which include an upfront payment of $250,000 and two years of quarterly payments.

The Application Toolkit provides detailed information for the upcoming application submission cycle and questions can be emailed to SharedSavingsProgram@cms.hhs.gov.

Applications are due on June 12 at Noon Eastern.

This program from HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce offers up to $100,000 in student loan repayment for eligible clinicians who provide pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, or child and adolescent behavioral health care, including substance use disorder (SUD) prevention and treatment.  In return, participants commit to three years of full-time service at an approved facility. For more information, click here.

Applications are due on July 17.