MHA Today | February 26, 2025

Staff Contact: Jane Drummond or Andrew Wheeler

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday evening passed a budget resolution that provides structure to an appropriations package and committee budgetary instructions. The latest Senate budget resolution is significantly different than the House version. Once the Senate passes its version of a budget resolution, a reconciliation process will need to occur.

House Concurrent Resolution 14 includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in reduced federal spending over the next 10 years. The resolution calls for deficit spending of $2.1 trillion for FFY 2025, a national debt increase to $55.6 billion by the end of FFY 2034 and raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. The Committee on Energy and Commerce would need to create a budget that decreases spending by $880 billion over the next 10 years.

Staff Contact: Andrew Wheeler

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that signals increased enforcement and improvements to existing hospital price transparency regulations.

Specifically, the order would “require the disclosure of the actual prices of items and services, not estimates; issue updated guidance or proposed regulatory action ensuring price information is standardized and easily comparable across hospitals and health plans; and issue guidance or proposed regulatory action updating enforcement policies designed to ensure compliance with the transparent reporting of complete, accurate and meaningful data.”

Staff Contact: Dave Dillon

Rural hospitals’ leaders and physicians participated Tuesday in Rural Health Advocacy Day at the Missouri State Capitol. The event, hosted by the Missouri Rural Health Association, included representatives of MHA and other health care organizations.

Among the attendees were Bill Bridges, CEO of Texas County Memorial Hospital, and Kristina Grant, D.O., a family medicine physician and obstetrics provider at TCMH.

Staff Contact: Nate Percy

Effective Saturday, March 1, MTM, MO HealthNet’s nonemergency transportation provider, no longer will require preauthorizations for nonemergent ALS, BLS or stretcher trips. Facilities still need to complete a Certificate of Medical Necessity to document the need for ambulance transport. See MTM’s one-page memo on the change.