Federal Update
Below is a selection of recent health policy and regulatory news and information relevant to health centers and PCAs. For regular updates, subscribe to Capital Link’s blog, or access NACHC’s blog and the HRSA’s health center webpage.
Uniform Data System 2019 Reporting Season Open
All HRSA-funded health centers and look-alikes must submit complete and accurate UDS reports by Saturday, February 15. Upon successful submission, your UDS report will be assigned to a UDS reviewer who will work with you to finalize your data submission through March. No changes will be permitted to the UDS report after Tuesday, March 31. Learn more here.
HRSA is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2020 Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Implementation (RCORP-Implementation). RCORP is a multi-year initiative by HRSA aimed at reducing the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD), in high-risk rural communities. This funding opportunity will strengthen and expand SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery services to enhance rural residents’ ability to access treatment and move towards recovery. Learn more here.
New Markets Tax Credit Receives One-Year, $5 Billion Extension
The Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bill, signed into law by President Trump, includes a one-year, $5 billion extension of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC). The NMTC, which faced expiration on December 31, received a $1.5 billion increase in allocation. The projected impact of this allocation includes an estimated 138 manufacturing and industrial projects, 55 mixed-use projects, 51 health care projects and 115 community facility projects. It will also generate an estimated 118,000 jobs. Allocations to be awarded in 2021, so if you have a project on the horizon, now is the time to start planning.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Rules in Texas v. Azar
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) mandate that all Americans have health insurance is unconstitutional, but did not invalidate the entire law. This means that legal battles and a degree of uncertainty will continue. For now, the ACA remains in place, but if overturned, there will be significant detrimental impacts on access to care for more than 20 million Americans, as well as Community Health Center organizations across the country.