Weekly StateVitals Update: Volume 68 (May 11, 2026)

National

• US Supreme Court Temporarily Reinstates Mail-Order Abortion Medication Rule. This past Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an administrative stay to temporarily reinstate the 2023 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule that authorizes mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine and dispensed through the mail. The decision issued by Justice Samuel Alito quickly lifted a recent 5th Circuit Court ruling that granted a stay on the FDA rule on May 1 after Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) filed a lawsuit challenging it. Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, the manufacturers of mifepristone, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to ensure that the drug may be provided via telemedicine while the case plays out in the lower courts. The administrative stay will expire on May 11, by which point the court will either extend the stay or decline the manufacturers' requests for a temporary block on the ruling.

Arkansas

• Applications for Rural Health Transformation Program Funding Now Open. Last Monday, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) announced that applications for the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funding will open on May 11, 2026. The initial round of funding consists of $55.6 million focused on the Telehealth, Health-Monitoring, and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE) initiative. Governor Sanders clarified that additional funding will be announced over the next 90 days and that the $209 million in first-year funds are expected to be awarded by this fall. Future funding initiatives will cover the state’s other RHTP priorities, including Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT), Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR), and Healthy Eating, Active Recreation, and Transformation (HEART). Information about future Notice of Funding Opportunity announcements can be found at the state’s RHTP website, and questions may be directed to info@ArkansasRHTP.com. 

Connecticut

• House Enrolls Bill Increasing Oversight of Private Equity Nursing Home Ownership. This past Wednesday, the House enrolled SB 125, which would require nursing homes to disclose detailed financial and ownership information of each entity with a beneficial ownership interest of at least 5%  to the state. This information includes the names and addresses of each person, partnership, or corporation with ownership, their ownership shares, as well as audited and certified financial statements. Additionally, the bill implements several other oversight and financial security measures for nursing homes with outside ownership interests, including:

  • Requiring such nursing homes to secure a surety bond covering 90 days of operating costs when applying for or renewing a license.

  • Requiring licensees to maintain full governance control and authority over nursing home assets, as well as clinical, operational, managerial, financial, and human resources activities.

  • Prohibiting entities from selling or transferring nursing home real property within five years of acquisition without approval from the Commissioner of Public Health.

  The bill is now headed to Governor Ned Lamont’s (D) desk for signature, who has 15 days to act once he receives it.

Idaho

• Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Delayed to 2030 After Delay on MMIS Contract. Recently, the Department of Health and Welfare confirmed it would be delaying its implementation of a full managed care system for Medicaid (following last year’s enactment of HB 345) from 2029 to 2030. This decision comes after former contractor Gainwell Technologies sued the state over the state’s new Medicaid Management Information Services (MMIS) contract with Acentra Health that was awarded in August 2025. Idaho 4th District Judge Nancy Baskin then issued a temporary restraining order on the state’s implementation of Acentra Health taking over MMIS in March. Since the decision, Medicaid Administrator Sasha O’Connell has clarified that the managed care implementation will be delayed to ensure continuity of care.

Montana

• DPHHS Seeks Applicants to Serve on the RHTP Center of Excellence Advisory Council. This past Tuesday, the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) announced it was seeking applicants to serve on the 20-member Montana Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) Center of Excellence (CoE) Advisory Council. The Advisory Council will develop recommendations to align care delivery services with rural health needs at the county, tribal, and facility level, with the goal of improving financial sustainability and continued care access. DPHHS is seeking applicants to fill 15 slots to serve in the following positions:

  • Rural Health Care Consumer

  • Rural Primary Care Clinician

  • Tribal Health Representative

  • Prospective Payment System (PPS) Hospitals

  • Independent Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) / Rural Emergency Hospitals (REH)

  • Affiliated CAH or REH Facilities (owned by or affiliated with a PPS hospital)

  • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)

  DPHHS Director Charlie Brereton will appoint the remaining five members, along with five additional non-voting members. Interested applicants should complete the CoE Advisory Council Application by May 22, 2026. Further information on Montana’s RHTP can be found on the DPHHS website.

New Mexico

• Health Care Authority Releases RFP for RHTP Vendor. Last Wednesday, the New Mexico Health Care Authority (HCA) released a request for proposals (RFP) for a vendor to provide technical assistance, shared services, and partnership support to rural frontier and tribal health providers across the state. The vendor will be assisting the Center for Rural Health Sustainability & Innovation as part of the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program. The contractor is expected to deliver the following services: 

  • Strategic and operational assistance to rural providers. 

  • Development of partnerships and shared service models to improve efficiency and healthcare access. 

  • Revenue cycle management, workforce strategies, and operational improvement. 

  • Provider education, training, and learning collaboratives. 

  • Data analytics support and coordination with the Rural Health Data Hub  

  • Stakeholder engagement and coordination across state agencies and community partners. 

  • Support for program monitoring, evaluation, and federal reporting.

  Interested applicants should submit proposals by June 4 and can access RFP documents through the HCA portal on Submittable and the HCA website. 

North Carolina

• Senate Passes Bills to Lower Medicaid Facility Fees and Increase Hospital Price Transparency. This past Wednesday, the Senate passed two bills: one to lower Medicaid facility fees (HB 727) and another to strengthen hospital price transparency regulations (HB 390). HB 727 specifies that for a hospital system to receive medicaid reimbursements for facility fees, the service must be provided in the hospital’s main building, an immediately adjacent area or structure within 250 yards, a facility with an emergency department, or an ambulatory surgical center. HB 390 prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) from preventing managed care organizations contracted with Medicaid, or NC Prepaid Health Plans (PHPs), from asking hospitals for itemized bills when a patient’s inpatient Medicaid charges are abnormally high, or exceed $250,000. The bill would also prohibit DHHS from preventing PHPs from aligning claims coding, edits, and adjudication with national standards or from directing inpatient hospital and hospital laboratory services to outpatient settings. Both bills are now headed back to the House for concurrence before possible enrollment.

• Wake County Officials Delay Vote on Hospital Merger. Last Monday, the Wake County Board of Commissioners delayed a vote on a proposed merger between WakeMed Health and Atrium Health.  The proposed merger was announced on Friday, 5/1, and the Commissioners were scheduled to vote on whether to approve changes to WakeMed’s articles of incorporation and transfer agreement to allow it to begin the process of merging the following Monday. However, amid significant pushback from state and local officials, including state Treasurer Brad Briner (R), state Auditor Dave Boliek (R), Representative Mike Schietzelt (R), and Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell (D), the vote has been delayed for 90 days to allow for a public comment period. Notably, the Board of Commissioners is the first step in the regulatory process for the merger to be approved. WakeMed will still need to receive approval from the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Oklahoma

• Attorney General Drummond Requests State Audit of Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Recently, Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) requested the State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd (R) to conduct an independent audit of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA). This comes after several inquiries from Attorney General Drummond on OHCA’s oversight of the 2024 transition to a managed care model for the state’s Medicaid program, SoonerCare. In his letter to the State Auditor and Inspector Byrd, Drummond emphasized concerns over significant reimbursement reductions for direct pediatric care, payment withholdings, and bureaucratic delays. He also noted that providers had filed several complaints on payment delays, administrative barriers to claims processing, inconsistent and incorrect reimbursement determinations, and denied claims for medically necessary equipment. Drummond has stated that his previous requests to the OHCA Chief Executive Officer, Clay Bullard (R), for corrective action have been met with only verbal assurances and a defense of the managed care organization’s high claim approval rates.

• Governor Stitt Signs Bill Banning Abortion-Inducing Drugs. Last Tuesday, Governor Kevin Stitt (R), signed HB 1168 into law. The bill prohibits the delivery and possession of an abortion-inducing drug to a person who intends to use it to cause an unlawful abortion and creates a felony offense for trafficking such drugs. Notably, the bill exempts pharmacists, manufacturers, and distributors who lawfully manufacture, possess, offer, sell, or distribute drugs, medicine, or instruments in their usual course of business for a lawful medical purpose. The bill also does not apply to preventive contraceptives and will take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session. 

Oregon

• Settlement Reached in Case Challenging Corporate Medicine Law. This past Wednesday, parties involved in a lawsuit challenging corporate influence in medicine reached a settlement. Eugene Emergency Physicians (EEP), an Oregon hospital staffing group that had provided services for 35 years, filed the suit in March after PeaceHealth announced it would end the long-standing contract to bring in the national firm ApolloMD to staff three emergency departments at Lane County hospitals. Notably, the suit served as a test of the enforceability of the recently passed law, SB 951, which prohibits health care funders and investors from controlling health care providers’ clinical practices or medical judgment, or limiting certain choices, decisions, or judgments. SB 951 is particularly strict; U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said it changed the landscape for healthcare staffing in Oregon, raising concerns about PeaceHealth’s use of a national staffing firm for its Oregon hospitals.

Tennessee

• Governor Reeves Signs Bill Allowing Health System COPA to Expire. Last Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves enacted SB 2414, which allows Ballad Health's Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) to expire in June 2028, ending Tennessee’s regulatory oversight of the system. Directors of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Office of Policy Planning and Bureau of Competition and Economics previously issued a letter warning of potential anticompetitive consequences if the COPA expired without a competing healthcare system. The FTC noted this expiration could enable a monopolist to exercise substantial market power, leading patients to face higher healthcare costs and lower-quality care. 

Virginia

• Lawsuit Filed to Overturn Abortion Ballot Initiative. Recently, the Family Foundation filed a lawsuit over Virginia’s abortion ballot initiative to establish a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including abortion care, contraception, and fertility care. The lawsuit is similar to a previously filed case that challenged the legality of the constitutional amendment process. The plaintiffs argue the amendment would remove parental consent for minors seeking surgical birth control procedures or abortions and raise safety risks by removing the current three-physician approval process for later-term abortions. Under current law, minors must receive parental or guardian consent for such procedures unless a judge approves. The suit alleges the proposed ballot language is materially misleading and therefore unconstitutional. Additionally, the plaintiffs request a permanent injunction if the amendment is approved. The lawsuit is currently in the Tazewell County Circuit Court, the same jurisdiction as the recent case that overturned Virginia’s ballot initiative for a mid-decade congressional redistricting.