– Apply by December 12.  With major funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Trust Fund, the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will award up to 15 grants. Representing an historic investment and initially focused on behavioral health, the Healthcare Extension Cooperatives will disseminate and implement PCOR findings to improve healthcare policy at the state level, especially for people who receive Medicaid, are uninsured, or are medically underserved.  The official Notice of Funding Opportunity lists rural as a priority population, naming CMS Medicare-certified Rural Health Clinics among safety net health care delivery organizations expected to play a role in this initiative.

Attorney General Michelle Henry has joined a coalition of 42 state Attorneys General urging Congress to require a Surgeon General’s warning on social media platforms that have proven to be addictive and harmful to children. Read more.

The Biden Administration announced a historic final rule that will ensure mental health care coverage for 175 million Americans is on par with their physical health care coverage. The final rule strengthens consumer protections by reinforcing MHPAEA’s fundamental purpose that all Americans should have the same access to mental health and substance use benefits as they do physical health benefits. And it will help lower families’ health care costs by making it easier to access mental health and substance use care and getting rid of barriers that keep people from getting the care they need, when they need it, for a price they can afford.

Join other health centers to share challenges, successes, and promising practices for increasing access to care for migratory and seasonal agricultural workers (MSAWs). The National Center for Farmworker Health (NCFH) will provide guest speakers, tools, and resources to help you better identify and reach MSAWs — as well as properly capturing them in your Uniform Data System (UDS) reporting. Visit the registration page.

To ensure that individuals who are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance program (CHIP) retain coverage, and to assist states in their continued transition to regular renewal processing, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing states additional time to complete eligibility renewals, address persistent backlogs in processing redeterminations, and ensure that states achieve compliance with federal renewal timeliness requirements. This Informational Bulletin outlines the duration and conditions under which states may use an exception in the regulations to delay timely processing of renewals in “unusual circumstances” through Dec. 31, 2025. The Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, which had halted Medicaid disenrollments during the public health emergency, ended on March 31, 2023, and since that time, over 25 million Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled and over 54 million have had their coverage renewed.

Pennsylvania’s Health Insurance Marketplace Pennie, has produced a 2023 Annual Report highlighting the work of enrollment assistance, Medicaid Redetermination statistics and Pennie’s first Health Equity Report among other enrollment facts. Thousands of Pennsylvanians don’t qualify for Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP or employer-based coverage but, due to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, can access coverage through Pennie.

In the final year 2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) solicited public comments to aid in the collection of information to determine future criteria to establishing a new graduate medical residency. In the final rule, CMS noted they received a wide range of comments, and commenters did not arrive at a consensus on the best approach to the issue of the newness of residents. CMS chose not to finalize their original proposal, and is instead seeking comment on the appropriate criterion for what constitutes a new residency program. The public may submit their feedback to GME_Program_Newness@cms.hhs.gov. Comments are due by October 15.

The 2025 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program registration cycle is now open! Final-year students studying to become a physician (MD/DO), dentist (DDS/DMD), physician assistant (PA), nurse practitioner (NP), or certified nurse midwife (CNM) may be eligible for awards of up to $120,000. An additional $40,000 supplement is available to physician and nurse midwife final-year students who commit to providing OB/GYN services in high-need areas. Registrations are due Thursday, November 7, 7:30 pm. Find out more about the NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program and how to apply.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a revised Medicare Learning Network prescriber’s guide to Medicare prescription drug (Part D) opioid policies. Starting January 1, 2025, CMS is expanding the definition of an exempted patient being treated for cancer pain to include patients undergoing active cancer treatment and cancer survivors.

This Newborn Screening Awareness Month, visit HRSA’s Newborn Screening Information Center for the latest resources. HRSA’s newly updated site has information for both healthcare providers and families. This includes a step-by-step breakdown of the newborn screening process, a description of conditions screened, and links to external support organizations to help families navigate the newborn screening process. All information is available in both English and Spanish.