Weekly StateVitals Update: Volume 83 (August 31, 2026)
Arkansas
Governor Huckabee Sanders Announces $149.3 Million in RHTP Awards. Last Thursday, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) announced that the state awarded $149.3 million in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) grants. The initial round of funding consists of $55.7 million for the Telehealth, Health-Monitoring, and Response Innovation for Vital Expansion (THRIVE) initiative and $93.6 million through the Promoting Access Coordination and Transformation (PACT) priority. These grants target improvements to telehealth, emergency medical response, remote patient-monitoring technology, specialty care, preventative screenings, trauma-ready services, clinical networks, data sharing, and regional collaboration within rural communities. With these awards, the state has $59.7 million remaining in first-year funding for the Recruitment Innovation Skills and Education for Arkansas (RISE AR) and Healthy Eating, Active Recreation, and Transformation (HEART) initiatives. Grant awards for these initiatives are expected to be announced in September.
Alabama
Governor Ivey Announces $144 million in Rural Health Grant Awards. This past Monday, Governor Kay Ivey (R) announced that 80 health care organizations would receive over $144 million in grants as part of the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). The grant funding supports five out of 11 initiatives in Alabama’s application, including Rural Health, Rural Workforce, Mental Health, Rural Health Practice and Collaborative Electronic Health Record (EHR), IT and Cybersecurity. Through these initiatives, the funds will support grants to improve healthcare access, modernize health technology and hospital security, expand telehealth, behavioral health, maternal health, emergency, and mobile care services. The state is expected to announce the remaining $59 million in RHTP funding for FY 2026 at a later date.
Alaska
Projects Receive $160 Million to Support Technology, Coordinated Care, and Healthcare Access. Last Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Trump Administration is providing Alaska $160 million through its rural health transformation program (RHTP) to support 142 projects to advance technology, expand coordinated statewide care, and improve rural healthcare access. The announcement highlighted projects to establish robotic-assisted surgery in Southeast Alaska, create a tribally-led behavioral health and recovery campus, deploy AI medical imaging, and develop drone technology for pharmaceutical delivery. The funding also strengthens the state’s health data infrastructure and invests in training and recruiting primary care physicians. Like Arkansas and Alabama, Alaska has not yet awarded all of its RHTP funding for FY 2026, but is expected to by the end of September.
Arizona
HHS-OIG Finds MCOs did not Comply with Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Analysis. Last Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) released its audit of whether Arizona ensured that three selected Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) complied with parity requirements related to prior authorization for mental health/substance use disorder (MH/SUD) services. The report found that from October 2022 to September 2023, only one MCO complied with the annual parity analysis, finding that limitations related to prior authorizations for MH/SUD were no more restrictive than those for medical/surgical (M/S) care. HHS-OIG concluded the two other MCOs did not perform the analyses and that Arizona’s written compliance policies on the parity requirements were unclear and that Arizona’s oversight was inadequate. HHS-OIG recommended Arizona improve its policies and procedures to (1) clarify that MCOs are required to annually perform parity analyses, (2) require MCOs to submit the results of the analyses with reliable supporting documentation (e.g., data) for Arizona’s review, and (3) review the MCOs’ annual parity analyses and supporting documentation. The state concurred with the last two recommendations and not the first, reasoning that its policies already require MCOs to perform the annual analyses. This action follows a previous HHS-OIG audit which found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) did not ensure that eight selected States complied with parity requirements related to Medicaid managed care MH/SUD and M/S care.
California
Senate Enrolls Bill to Bring GLP-1s Into State Drug-Purchasing Program. Last Thursday, the California Senate enrolled SB 1089, which would expand access to glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications under CALRx, the state’s drug purchasing program. Specifically, the bill authorizes the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to partner with drug manufacturers to increase competition, lower prices, and address supply shortages for at least one FDA-approved anti-obesity GLP-1 medication. CHHSA would also be required to establish distribution partners, if needed, and make its best efforts to negotiate pricing at or below the cost to Medi-Cal beneficiaries in 2025. Currently, CALRx distributes insulin, albuterol inhalers, and naloxone. It remains unclear how long implementation would take; previous efforts to include $55 insulin under CalRx took three years. The bill's author, Senator Laura Richardson (D), stated Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was “very positively open” to including GLP-1s in CalRx. Governor Newsom is expected to sign the bill in the coming weeks.
Connecticut
Attorney General Tong Urges Insurance Department to Reject Rate Increase Requests. This past Monday, Attorney General William Tong (D) announced he sent a letter to Insurance Commissioner Josh Hersman asking the department to reject double-digit rate increase requests from three health insurers providing individual and small group plans for about 220,000 people in Connecticut. The proposed rate hikes would, on average, increase individual plans by 12.8% or 22.7% and small group plans by 17.4% or 18.9%, depending on the insurer. Attorney General Tong’s letter came days before the Insurance Department heard public comments and presentations on the 2027 filing requests. The comment period will remain open until the department approves the final rates; Commissioner Herman is expected to either approve, modify, or deny the rate requests in September.
Georgia
Rural Hospitals Receive $93.3 million for Telehealth, Robotic Surgery, and Healthcare Access. Last Thursday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Georgia’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) would receive $93.3 million to advance new care models, including surgical robotics, dementia care, and telehealth. The funding will also support 87 rural hospitals in preparing for value-based care, expanding training and recruitment for nurses, EMTs, and paramedics, and improving access to maternal and behavioral health services, newborn screening, and other critical health services through telehealth, transportation, and expanded care networks. With this latest funding release, Georgia has fully awarded its $218 million in first-year funding, joining Florida, which fully allocated funds earlier this month.
Idaho
Abortion Initiative Group Sues over Misleading Ballot Language. This past Thursday, the group leading a proposed reproductive rights and privacy ballot initiative to overturn Idaho’s near-total abortion ban sued the state over misleading ballot language. Idaho Secretary of State Phil McCrane (R) emphasized that the ballot language issues need to be resolved quickly before pamphlets are printed and mailed on September 25. As per statutory requirements, Secretary of State McCrane developed the language with Attorney General Raúl Labrador (R), who has recently appealed a federal court ruling against the state’s ban. The complaint argues the drafted “no” statement is not “clear and concise,” and that the “yes” statement is inadequate because it describes viability differently than the other parts of the ballot language. Idahoans United for Women and Families previously sued the state over ballot language and won a case to revise a short ballot title and fiscal impact statement in April 2025. This November, Virginia and Nevada voters will also vote to guarantee the right to abortion, while Missouri will vote on whether to reinstate a previously overturned ban on abortions and youth gender-affirming care.
U.S. District Judge Narrows Application of Ruling Against Abortion Ban. Last Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Barry Lynn Winmill narrowed his recent ruling to allow abortions to protect a mother’s health or address a risk of self-harm to apply only to the Boise doctor who challenged the law. Judge Winmill’s decision to narrow the scope comes as a result of Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s (R) request to appeal the ban, in which he argued the decision was too broad. Judge Winmill agreed with AG Labrador, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court cases that ruled that, in most situations, federal judges cannot issue universal injunctions that block laws nationwide or beyond the plaintiffs. Moving forward, it is possible that Attorney General Labrador and the Ada County prosecutor may not enforce the state’s felony abortion ban (created through the “Defense of Life Act” and “Fetal Heartbeat Act”) when Dr. Stacy Seyb performs the procedure to prevent a serious risk of harm to the mother’s health. However, other doctors will still be subject to the state’s ban that only grants exceptions for the life of the mother or in reported cases of rape and incest in the first trimester.
Maine
Department of Health and Human Services Proposes Medicaid Program Integrity Rules. Recently, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services proposed new Medicaid program integrity rules in response to two voter petitions. The proposed rule imposes stricter MaineCare provider inspections and payment suspensions, including provisions to:
Require in-person inspections of provider locations during enrollment, audits, and fraud investigations.
Permit sanctions when providers deny access.
Prohibit replacing fraud-related inspections with desk reviews or electronic document submissions.
Require MaineCare to suspend and escrow payments when a provider receives notice of an alleged improper payment, overpayment, or billing violation of at least $1,000.
MaineCare providers may challenge the order through informal review and an administrative hearing. Still, the payment suspension would remain in place during the appeal, and providers would have to continue delivering medically necessary services to existing MaineCare members. The department is holding a public hearing on the rule on September 10 at 8:30 am ET, and comments are due by September 20, 2026.
Ohio
Governor DeWine Announces $3.15 million in Awards for Rural Pharmacy Initiatives. This past Wednesday, Governor Mike DeWine announced that $3.15 million in Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) funds were awarded to expand pharmacy connectivity. The state awarded $2 million to the Ohio Pharmacists Association to improve pharmacists’ access to patient medical records, strengthen medication management and care coordination, and help reduce drug-related adverse events. Additionally, Ohio awarded $1.15 million to the Board of Pharmacy to improve rural healthcare providers’ access to the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System (OARRS), and to support increased integration with electronic health records and pharmacy dispensing systems. Through the funding, Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy hopes to address low rural OARRS integration rates and reach a 90% integration rate in all rural counties.
Virginia
Governor Spanberger Issues Executive Order to Prevent Loss of Medicaid and SNAP Coverage. Last Tuesday, Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) issued an executive order (EO 26-20) to establish the “Keep Virginia Covered” initiative to help prevent eligible beneficiaries from losing Medicaid and SNAP coverage as community engagement and work requirements take place. The order directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) and the Department of Social Services (DSS) to streamline renewal processes, implement a $150 million premium support fund, host public town halls, publish regular enrollment data, and release public coverage resources by October 1, 2026. Additionally, the order directs DMAS to send notices before any coverage or benefit changes, increase call center and outreach navigator capacity, align and streamline redetermination, verification, and reporting, utilize existing eligibility information available to peer agencies, and provide a clear and accessible cure period and appeals pathway. The executive order also directs state agencies to expand workforce resources, apprenticeship programs, and targeted case management for individuals subject to work requirements. State officials estimate that approximately 300,000 residents could be at risk of losing Medicaid coverage.
Rural Health Providers Receive $122 Million to Expand Healthcare Access, Workforce, and Innovation. This past Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Virginia’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) would receive $122 million to expand healthcare access through remote patient monitoring, virtual care, mobile clinics, maternal care, and more community paramedics. The funding will also support pathways into allied health careers and apprenticeships, early-stage health technology enhancements for provider interoperability and productivity, and coordinated care for dually enrolled Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Out of its total $189.5 million award, Virginia still has $67.5 million in first-year RHTP funding left to allocate.