Weekly Health Care Policy Update – April 18, 2023

In this update: 

• Administration Updates
  • Biden Announces Expanded Health Care Coverage for DACA Recipients
  • Biden Signs Resolution Ending Section 201 Covid-19 National Emergency
• Federal Agencies
  • HHS Issues Proposed Rule to Further Implement 21^st Century Cures Act
  • HHS Issues Proposed Rule on Confidentiality in Reproductive Health Care
  • CMS Issues FY 2024 Hospital IPPS and LTCH PPS Proposed Rule
  • Administration Issues FAQs on Preventive Care Services Court Ruling
  • CMS Issues Notice of Medicaid DSH Allotments and IMD DSH Limits
  • CMS to Hold National Stakeholder Call
• Other Updates
  • JAMIA Publishes Survey of Hospitals on Information Blocking
• New York State Updates
  • NYS Budget Deadline Extended to April 20^th; Further Extension Likely
  • OPWDD Releases Draft Amendment to 1915(c) HCBS Waiver for Public Comment
  • OMH Releases Updated Telehealth Implementation Guidance
  • DOH Proposes Regulations Requiring Health Equity Impact Assessment in CON Process
• Funding Opportunities
  • DOHMH Releases Concept Paper for Public Health Call Center
  • NYC HRA Releases RFP For the Provision of Tenant Services in Senior Affordable Housing
  • HRSA Issues NOFO for State Maternal Health Innovation Program

Administration Updates

Biden Announces Expanded Health Care Coverage for DACA Recipients
On April 13^th, the Biden Administration announced a plan to expand health coverage for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will propose a rule amending the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients for purposes of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage. The change would make DACA recipients eligible to apply for coverage through state Medicaid programs or through Health Insurance Marketplaces, where they would be able to qualify for financial assistance based on income. The Administration estimates this change could provide coverage for up to 580,000 individuals. New York, like a few other states, already provides Medicaid coverage for eligible DACA recipients using state-only funding.
 
The announcement is available here.
 
Biden Signs Resolution Ending Section 201 Covid-19 National Emergency
On April 10^th, President Biden signed the Joint Resolution passed by both the House and the Senate ending the Covid-19 National Emergency declared under Section 201 of the National Emergencies Act. The White House had signaled its agreement at the end of March (described in SPG’s April 3^rd update here). This declaration does not end the Covid-19 public health emergency, which is still scheduled to end May 11^th. Key flexibilities tied to the National Emergency, such as  include extended deadlines for COBRA enrollment, disability determinations, claims appeals, and other plan administrative activities, will now expire June 9^th, 60 days after the Joint Resolution became law.

Federal Agencies

HHS Issues Proposed Rule to Further Implement 21^st Century Cures Act
On April 11^th, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a proposed rule to implement provisions of the 21^st Century Cures Act and make enhancements to the ONC Health IT Certification Program. Changes are intended to “advance interoperability, improve transparency, and support the access, exchange, and use of electronic health information.” The rule proposes major new health IT proposals, including the following: 

• Modification and expansion of exceptions in the ONC’s information blocking regulations, including: 
  • Revising the “Infeasibility” exception to information blocking requirements to: 
    • Clarify that if an entity claims infeasibility of sharing information due to “uncontrollable events”, the events must be the direct cause of infeasibility;
    • Allow the exception to apply in cases where a third party is seeking covered information for the purposes of “modifications”; and
    • Allow the exception to apply in cases where the “Manner” exception has been “exhausted,” i.e., the entity has offered all alternative manners available, and does not provide access to similar data to other entities.
  • Adding a new option to the “Manner” exception to cover entities participating in the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), so that if they offer information through TEFCA, they will not be required to offer information in other manners.
  • Clarifying and narrowing the scope of the term “offering health IT” to exclude entities that only provide funding for health IT or that implement common and customary activities among purchasers of health IT (such as implementing a patient portal).
• Addition and revision of criteria for the ONC Health IT Certification program, including: 
  • Adding a new criterion around the use of artificial intelligence or other predictive modeling in decision support interventions (DSIs), to ensure that potential users of certified HIT “have sufficient information about how a predictive DSI was designed, developed, trained, and evaluated to determine whether it is trustworthy.”
  • Adding a new “Electronic Health Record Reporting Program” criterion for developers of ONC-certified health IT.
  • Revising several Certification Program certification criteria, including existing criteria for clinical decision support (CDS), patient demographics and observations, electronic case reporting, and application programming interfaces for patient and population services.
  • Adopting the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) Version 3 as a standard within the Certification Program and establish an expiration date for USCDI Version 1 as an adopted standard within the Certification Program.
  • Updating standards and implementation specifications adopted under the Certification Program to advance interoperability, support enhanced health IT functionality, and reduce burden and costs.

ONC will be hosting a series of information sessions about the proposed rule, including an overview session on April 27^th. More information about the session is available here. The proposed rule is available here and will be open for comment until June 16^th.
 
HHS Issues Proposed Rule on Confidentiality in Reproductive Health Care
On April 12^th, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule modifying privacy rules to increase confidentiality for reproductive health care. The proposed rule would modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to modify standards permitting uses and disclosures of protected health information (PHI) related to reproductive health. Specifically, it would prohibit use or disclosure of PHI to “investigate or prosecute patients, providers, and others involved in the provision of legal reproductive health care, including abortion care.” Such reproductive health care would be defined as (but not limited to): prenatal care, abortion, miscarriage management, infertility treatment, contraception use, and treatment for reproductive-related conditions such as ovarian cancer.
 
The proposed rule is available here. A fact sheet is available here. Comments will be accepted until June 16^th.
 
CMS Issues FY 2024 Hospital IPPS and LTCH PPS Proposed Rule
On April 10^th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule for the fiscal year (FY) 2024 hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS).
 
Overall, CMS proposes an increase in operating payment rates for acute care hospitals that successfully participate in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program and that are meaningful electronic health record (EHR) users of 2.8%. This increase reflects a projected hospital market basket update of 3.0% reduced by a 0.2% productivity adjustment. CMS projects that this rate increase would increase overall payments to hospitals under the IPPS by $3.3 billion. CMS also projects that Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments and Medicare uncompensated care payments will decrease by a combined $115 million and that additional payments for inpatient cases involving new medical technologies will decrease by $460 million, primarily due to expiration of add-on payments for several new technologies.
 
CMS projects that the LTCH standard payment rate will increase by 2.9%, but that LTCH PPS payments for discharges paid under the LTCH standard payment rate will decrease by approximately 2.5% (about $59 million) due to a projected decrease of 4.7% in high-cost outlier payments as a percentage of total LTCH PPS standard payment rate payments. However, CMS seeks comment on the methodology used to determine the LTCH PPS outlier threshold.
 
Key policies proposed in the rule include: 

• Continuation of the temporary low-wage hospital policies finalized in the FY 2020 rule.
• Changes to graduate medical education (GME) payments for training in rural emergency hospitals (REHs) to help support graduate medical training in rural areas.
• The addition of 15 new health equity hospital categorizations to measure the impact of CMS policies on health equity.
• Changing the severity designation of the three ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes describing homelessness from non-complication or comorbidity (NonCC) to complication or comorbidity (CC) due to the higher average resource costs of cases involving these diagnosis codes relative to similar cases that do not use such codes.
• A requirement for new technology add-on payment (NTAP) applicants for technologies that are not already FDA market authorized to have a complete and active FDA market authorization application request at the time of submission of NTAP application, and to move the FDA approval deadline from July 1 to May 1, beginning with applications for FY 2025.
• A new statutory interpretation that would permit CMS to treat hospitals that have reclassified from urban to rural the same as geographically rural hospitals for purposes of calculating the wage index, beginning with FY 2024. As proposed, this policy would include the data from both geographically rural and reclassified rural hospitals in the calculation of the wage index for the rural area of a state.
• Revisions to regulations for physician-owned hospitals, including clarifications and additional information on the expansion exception request process for eligible hospitals and reinstating regulations for physician-owned hospitals that meet the criteria for “high Medicaid facilities,” which were removed in the CY 2021 outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center (OPPS/ASC) final rule.

The rule also modifies several quality and value-based incentive programs for hospitals, including: 

• The Hospital IQR program has three new, three modified, and three removed quality measures.
• The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measure will be modified, beginning with the CY 2025 reporting period, to include three new web-first modes of survey implementation, remove the survey’s prohibition on proxy respondents, and other changes to streamline the collection of data.
• The Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program.
• The PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting (PCHQR) Program.
• The Hospital-Acquired condition (HAC) Reduction Program, to modify data validation processes, including the establishment of a validation reconsideration process.
• The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, including measure modifications, new measure adoption, changes to administration and submission requirements, and adoption of health equity scoring changes.
• The Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program (LTCH QRP), including adopting two new measures, updating one measure, removing two measures, increasing the LTCH QRP Data Completion Threshold, and reporting two measures on the Care Compare website.

CMS notes that, under the current PPS, the New COVID-19 Treatments Add-on Payment (NCTAP) will apply to eligible discharges through the end of the FY in which the Covid-19 PHE ends. Therefore, if the PHE ends in May of 2023 as currently planned, the NCTAP will apply to discharges involving eligible products through September 30, 2023, but will not apply to the same discharges if they occur on or after October 1, 2023.
 
CMS issued accompanying Requests for Information on several topics, including: 

• How to advance health equity through a focus on safety-net hospitals. CMS notes the important role played by safety net hospitals in making essential services available to populations that face barriers to health care access. CMS seeks comments on challenges facing safety net hospitals and the patients they serve, as well as on potential approaches to meet those challenges.
• The potential future inclusion of two geriatric measures: the geriatric hospital and geriatric surgical structural measures.
• The potential future establishment of a publicly reporting hospital designation to capture the quality and safety of patient-centered geriatric care.
• Potential future measures for the HAC Reduction Program that would advance patient safety and reduce health disparities.

CMS will accept comments on the proposed rule until 5pm on June 9^th. The proposed rule may be found here. A fact sheet is available here and a press release is available here.
 
Administration Issues FAQs on Preventive Care Services Court Ruling
On April 13^th, the Departments of Labor, HHS, and the Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management jointly issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding coverage of preventive items and services under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in light of the recent court decision in Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra. In its Braidwood decision, the Court ruled that requiring health plans to cover, without cost sharing, items and services with an A or B recommendation from the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) violates the Appointments Clause of Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The Court vacated all actions taken by the Departments to implement this preventive services coverage requirement for A or B recommendations issued by the USPSTF since March 23, 2010, and enjoined the Departments from implementing coverage requirements based on future A or B recommendations.
 
The Departments issued these FAQs to provide health plans and issuers initial guidance on the impact of the Braidwood decision on coverage of preventive items and services. Highlights include: 

• Plans and issuers must continue to cover without cost sharing preventive items and services with A or B rating from the USPSTF issued prior to March 23, 2010. Many of the USPSTF’s recommendations have been updated since March 23, 2010, and the Departments anticipate issuing additional guidance regarding these pre-March 23, 2010, recommendations in the future.
• The Departments encourage plans and issuers to continue to cover preventive items and services with an A or B rating from the USPSTF on or after March 23, 2010, and note that nothing in the Braidwood decision precludes plans from continuing to provide “the full extent of such coverage.”
• The Braidwood decision does not apply to immunizations recommended by the Advisory Community on Immunization Practices (ACIP) or to preventive care and screenings provided for in guidance supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). To the extent that the ACIP and/or HRSA recommendations and guidelines overlap with items and services with an A or B rating from the USPSTF, plans and issuers must provide coverage without cost sharing, even if the A or B rating from the USPSTF was issued after March 23, 2010. 
  • The Departments note that the Braidwooddecision does not change the requirement to cover Covid-19 immunizations recommended by the ACIP without cost sharing.
• The Braidwood decision does not affect application of state laws that require coverage without cost sharing of items and services with an A or B rating from the USPSTF. Plans and issuers generally must comply with such state laws.
• Plans and issuers are not required to make any coverage changes in response to the Braidwood decision and the Departments encourage plans and issuers to consider other applicable provisions of state and federal law, as well as other legal and contractual requirements, when determining whether to make coverage changes during the plan year.
• To the extent plans and issuers are permitted to and do make changes to coverage policies during the plan year, the plan or issuer must comply with applicable notice requirements.
• With regard to high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and the safe harbor for coverage of preventive care items and services before the deductible is met, the Departments note that until further guidance is issued, HDHPs may continue to provide coverage of items and services with an A or B rating from the USPSTF on or after March 23, 2010, without cost sharing and before the deductible is met.
• With regard to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the Departments note that the Office of Personnel Management has broad statutory authority to negotiate coverage benefits for federal employee and will continue to require coverage without cost sharing of all preventive items and services with A or B rating from the USPSTF, including those recommended on or after March 23, 2010.

The FAQs are available here.
 
CMS Issues Notice of Medicaid DSH Allotments and IMD DSH Limits
On April 13^th, CMS issued a notice announcing the final Federal share disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments for Federal FYs 2020 and 2021 and the preliminary DSH allotments for FY 2022 and FY 2023. In addition, the notice announces the final FY 2020 and FY 2021 and the preliminary FY 2022 and FY 2023 limitations on aggregate DSH payments that States may make to institutions for mental disease (IMD) and other mental health facilities.
 
These final and preliminary allotments and limits for each state may be found beginning in Addendum 1 of the notice, which is available here.
 
CMS to Hold National Stakeholder Call
On April 25^th, from 1pm to 2pm, CMS will hold a National Stakeholder Call to provide an update on “CMS’ recent accomplishments” and how “cross-cutting initiatives are advancing CMS’ Strategic Plan.” The call will also allow stakeholders to learn more about partnering with CMS to help implement Strategic Plan key initiatives. Speakers will include CMS Administrator Chiquite Brooks-LaSure, CMS Principal Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Jon Blum, and other members of the CMS Leadership Team.
 
Registration is available here.

Other Updates

JAMIA Publishes Survey of Hospitals on Information Blocking
On April 8^th, the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Associationpublished an analysis of a national survey of 2,092 acute care hospital leaders that sought information on the perception of the prevalence of information blocking. As of October 6, 2022, all electronic health information (EHI) is subject to the information blocking regulations of the 21^st Century Cures Act Final Rule. Overall: 

• 42% of hospitals reported observing some behavior they perceived to be information blocking;
• 36% percent of hospitals perceived that health care providers either sometimes or often engaged in practices that may constitute information blocking;
• 17% and 19% perceived that health IT developers (such as EHR developers) and State, regional and/or local health information exchanges did the same, respectively.

Prevalence varied by health IT developer market share, hospital for-profit status, and health system market share. The authors conclude that the results support the “value of efforts to further reduce friction in the exchange of EHI and support the need for continued observation to provide a sense of the prevalence of information blocking practices and for education and awareness of information blocking regulations.”
 
The full report is available here.

New York State Updates

NYS Budget Deadline Extended to April 20^th; Further Extension Likely
On April 17^th, Governor Hochul signed a bill (S. 6340) to further extend emergency appropriations for the New York State (NYS) government through April 20^th, pending the enactment of a full budget for State FY 2023-24. The Governor and the legislature are still negotiating policy provisions in the Budget. Reports indicate that a tentative deal has been reached on bail reform, while the Governor’s plans on housing reforms have faced significant difficulties, but another extension to at least next week is still likely.
 
OPWDD Releases Draft Amendment to 1915(c) HCBS Waiver for Public Comment
On April 12^th, the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) released for public comment a draft amendment to its 1915(c) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver. Through this amendment, OPWDD intends to make permanent several flexibilities that were temporarily permitted during the Covid-19 pandemic as part of OPWDD’s Appendix K emergency waiver, which will expire on November 11^th. OPWDD is seeking federal approval for the changes included in this amendment to be effective October 1^st. The amendment includes, but is not limited to, the following changes:
 
Programmatic Changes

• Allowing individuals over 60 who reside in certified settings to receive Respite services;
• Allowing Family Education and Training services to be delivered via remote technology;
• Adding “home-enabling supports” to Assistive Technology-Adaptive Device services for individuals that live in the community; and
• Returning to higher “hard limits” on Environmental Modifications, Assistive Technology, and Vehicle Modifications.

Fiscal Changes

• Making permanent the temporary Covid-19 rate enhancements for Intensive Behavioral Services;
• Changing the timeframe for rebasing provider costs from four years to five years, starting July 1, 2024, so that OPWDD can evaluate the impact of Covid-19;
• Delaying until July 1, 2024 the rebasing of transportation costs for day services;
• Continuing the State’s ability to calculate occupancy adjustments for Residential Habilitation;
• Removing the Self-Direction Fiscal Intermediary and Broker fees and the Personal Resource Account (PRA) table from the waiver to allow OPWDD to make updates on a more timely basis without submission of an amendment and subsequent federal approval;
• Eliminating the second phase of the Consolidated Fiscal Report (CFR) penalty of 50% for late submissions, while retaining the first phase penalty of 2%;
• Further delaying implementation of the 15% cap on administrative cost reimbursement until at least October 1^st; and
• Clarifying that one-time bonuses and similar funding that are reported in the CFR may be excluded for rate-setting purposes.

Other

• Changing the scope of Division of Quality Improvement (DQI) reviews.

The draft waiver amendment is available here. A “plain language” summary of the draft is available here. OPWDD’s webinar presentation on the draft amendment is available here. Public comments may be submitted to peoplefirstwaiver@opwdd.ny.gov through May 12^th.
 
OMH Releases Updated Telehealth Implementation Guidance
On April 13^th, the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) released updated telehealth guidance for providers licensed pursuant to Article 31 of the NYS Mental Hygiene Law and providers designated or otherwise authorized by OMH to provide telehealth services under Part 596 of Title 14 of the New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations (NYCRR). OMH recently updated Part 596 to permanently adopt several telehealth flexibilities that were temporarily authorized during the Covid-19 emergency, including allowing for the provision of telephonic (audio-only services), removing the required in-person initial assessment, and expanding allowable practitioner types to any authorized provider under their scope of practice. The updated regulations are available here and SPG’s summary of the regulations is available here.
 
This updated guidance provides broad implementation guidelines for all OMH providers approved to deliver telehealth, as well as specific guidance to support the implementation of telehealth in different programs. The updated guidance also includes considerations and requirements for providers when determining the appropriateness of telehealth services. Such requirements include, but are not limited to: 

• All programs must maintain capacity for in-person services and may not refuse to provide in-person services to an individual who expresses this preference;
• Audio-only services are not permissible for children ages 0-5, but may be used for collateral sessions with the parent/guardian; and
• All services for children/youth must include visualization of the individual (audio-visual or in-person session) in the initial assessment period and every 12 months thereafter, and if this does not occur reasons should be documented.

The programmatic guidance also includes specific services for which audio-only telehealth should not be used, such as during sessions that require a full mental status exam. The guidance indicates that providers are required to notify the OMH Field Office within 30 days of contract execution with a telehealth company. Additional guidelines in the document address informed consent, patient confidentiality, documentation, technical requirements, and billing procedures.
 
The guidance is available here.
 
DOH Proposes Regulations Requiring Health Equity Impact Assessment in CON Process
On April 12^th, pursuant to legislation signed into law in December 2021, the NYS Department of Health (DOH) released proposed regulations that would require Article 28 health care facilities to conduct a health equity impact assessment when submitting applications through the Certificate of Need (CON) process for the following project types:  

• Construction projects; 
• New establishment or changes in establishment of an operator, including mergers and acquisitions, that would result in the elimination or substantial reduction of a hospital or health-related service or change in location of a hospital/health-related service; and 
• Expansion or addition of hospital/health-related services. 

Hospitals that are diagnostic and treatment centers (D&TCs) that serve over 50% combined patients enrolled in Medicaid or uninsured are exempt, unless the application includes a change in controlling person, principal stockholder, or principal member. 
 
The purpose of the health equity impact assessment is to demonstrate how a proposed project affects the accessibility and delivery of health care services for medically underserved populations. The proposed regulations provide guidance on requirements for the health equity assessment, including that the assessment must be prepared by an independent entity and use feedback from the community and other stakeholders. DOH estimates that the costs of the assessment could range between $500-$30,000, depending on the size and scope of the proposed project. 
 
The proposed regulations are available in the State Register here. Comments may be submitted to Katherine Ceroalo at regsqna@health.ny.gov through June 11^th.

Funding Opportunities

DOHMH Releases Concept Paper for Public Health Call Center
On April 11^th, the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) released a Concept Paper outlining a forthcoming Request for Proposals (RFP) that seeks to implement and maintain a public health call center staffed by clinicians (i.e., registered nurses and medical doctors) and non-clinical representatives. The public health call center will handle inquiries and provide guidance on health matters from both the public and health care providers, including providing information about health guidelines pertaining to infectious and non-infectious diseases, connecting vulnerable populations with health resources, and providing clinical consultations.
 
DOHMH anticipates awarding $100 million in total funding to one contractor during the six-year program period. The contractor would be required to have a robust staffing model (with at least five years of experience providing staffing upon request), technological capabilities, and the capacity to operate a call center that can respond to an estimated 48,000 inbound monthly calls from the public and health care providers and make an estimated 20,000 outbound monthly calls for public health initiatives. Staffed clinicians would need to be licensed in NYS or be eligible to be licensed in NYS.

The Concept Paper is available here. Written comments may be submitted by emailing RFP@health.nyc.gov with the subject line “Public Health Call Center Concept Paper” through May 26^th. It is anticipated that the RFP will be issued in fall 2023 and that contracts will begin on January 1, 2025.

NYC HRA Releases RFP For the Provision of Tenant Services in Senior Affordable Housing
On April 13^th, the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) released an RFP for organizations to develop and provide high-quality services for seniors residing in housing projects developed under the NYC Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA) program, which are required to set aside 30% of units for homeless seniors referred by city agencies. Awarded contractors will provide ongoing case assistance and services for formerly homeless tenants transitioning from shelter to permanent housing, as well as referral, social, and wellness opportunities that engage all seniors living in the building to ensure continued housing stability and community engagement. At minimum, the contractor would have one full-time tenant coordinator onsite to deliver services. Proposals may be submitted by: 

• A service provider in conjunction with an identified housing developer; or
• An organization with the capacity and experience to act as both housing developer and service provider.

In both cases, applicants are expected to have a minimum of five years of experience operating program(s) that support seniors or adults with histories of homelessness living in the community. Applicants are required to submit a Letter of Support from HPD that identifies the proposed housing site location and the status of financing the site.
It is anticipated that HRA will make awards at a rate based on approximately $5,000 per homeless unit per year. Approximately 500 units will be funded per year, with a maximum available funding of $3.2 million annually. Each contract will last for five years, with one four-year renewal option. Awarded contractors will be expected to place 100% of homeless units within 3-6 months.

The RFP documents are available in the PASSPort system here by searching “senior affordable housing.” The RFP is open-ended and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Questions may be submitted to Olode Bukola at olodeb@hra.nyc.gov.  

HRSA Issues NOFO for State Maternal Health Innovation Program
On April 13^th, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Fiscal Year 2023 State Maternal Health Innovation Program. This program supports state-led demonstrations that address maternal health disparities and improve maternal health. Applicants will be required to: 

• Establish a state-focused maternal health task force that conducts assessments of state maternal care and coverage and identifies state-specific gaps;
• Develop a state-focused strategic plan aligned with the state’s most recent comprehensive five-year Title V Needs Assessment;
• Improve state-level maternal health data and surveillance; and
• Promote and execute innovative approaches in maternal health service delivery.

HRSA will award up to $2 million in annual funding to up to 23 applicants. Contracts will last five years, beginning on September 30^th. Eligible applicants include any domestic public or private entity, including community-based organizations. If the applicant organization is a non-state agency, the applicant should include a letter of agreement from the State Maternal and Child Health Title V Director.
 
The NOFO is available here. Applications are due on June 2^nd. A technical webinar is scheduled on April 20^th at 2pm which may be accessed here. Questions may be submitted to Sarah Meyerholz at wellwomancare@hrsa.gov.