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Democrats Eye Oversight Powers for Health Care Overhaul
Confirmed
In Short: House Democrats are considering using oversight tools to plan for a major health care overhaul, as states receive funds to modernize rural health technology.
Maya Sandalow, director of the health program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, has called for more transparency in the rural health program, stating that the catalyst funds are 'public dollars'.
Louisiana and a few other states have set aside significant funds from the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program to invest in new technologies, mirroring private industry moves.
The federal government has awarded the first-year rural health program funds to states, with amounts ranging from $147 million in New Jersey to $281 million in Texas, to modernize technology infrastructure and experiment with untested technology.
Background
The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic representatives in the United States House of Representatives, voting and non-voting, and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber.
What's confirmed
- Maya Sandalow, director of the health program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, has called for more transparency in the rural health program, stating that the catalyst funds are 'public dollars'.
- Louisiana and a few other states have set aside significant funds from the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program to invest in new technologies, mirroring private industry moves.
- The federal government has awarded the first-year rural health program funds to states, with amounts ranging from $147 million in New Jersey to $281 million in Texas, to modernize technology infrastructure and experiment with untested technology.
What's still developing
- CMS, which is overseeing the program, released a seven-step guidance document for states to follow when creating the tech catalyst operations.
- States must show that first-year funds will be obligated — but not necessarily spent — by Oct. 30, according to the CMS guidance document.
- For the rural health catalyst funds, CMS requires states to submit the list of finalists “at least 15 business days” before announcing winners, along with “sufficient information” for the agency to “assess each proposed project,” according to the guidance document.
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- When Josh Fleig, Louisiana’s chief innovation officer, learned his state had set aside $20 million a year, for five years, to invest in startup rural health companies, his reaction was not surprising: “Wow!” This story also ran on Marketplace.
- Lawmakers added the rural health program to offset more than $900 billion in reduced Medicaid spending expected over 10 years from Republicans’ sweeping 2025 tax and spending law.
- Modernizing technology infrastructure is a key pillar of the federal rural health program, and the catalyst money epitomizes the administration’s strategy to move fast and experiment with untested technology — much like the “move fast and break things” mantra during the heyday of Silicon Valley.
- “This is a transformation that is still meant to serve the people.” Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.