This Senate resolution designates the first week of August 2026 as "National Community Health Center Week" to recognize the role these facilities play in providing affordable primary care across the United States. The bill highlights that community health centers serve a diverse range of populations, including those in rural and urban areas, by offering integrated services such as mental health, dental, and pharmacy care. It encourages the general public to participate in the observance by visiting local centers and celebrating the partnership between these organizations and their communities.
This resolution expresses support for designating the first week of August as National Community Health Center Week to honor the contributions of these facilities. It encourages all Americans to visit their local health centers during this time to celebrate the partnership between these organizations and the communities they serve. The bill highlights how community health centers provide affordable, comprehensive care to millions of people, particularly in rural and underserved areas, while integrating services like dental care, behavioral health, and pharmacy support. By recognizing these centers, the resolution aims to raise awareness of their role in improving public health outcomes and supporting local economies.
This bill allows rural law enforcement agencies with fewer than 50 officers to receive free training grants from the Department of Justice. Instead of applying directly, these agencies can pool their funding with neighboring departments to hire accredited nonprofit organizations to deliver the training. The program specifically covers topics such as de-escalation, officer wellness, leadership, and handling situations involving mental health crises or domestic violence. By simplifying the application process and removing reporting burdens, the legislation aims to help smaller agencies access resources they previously lacked.
This Senate resolution designates June 6, 2026, as National Naloxone Awareness Day to highlight the importance of naloxone in reversing opioid overdoses. The measure aims to educate the public, healthcare providers, and first responders on how to recognize overdose signs and safely administer the medication. It also encourages federal, state, and local governments along with private organizations to support efforts that increase access to and distribution of naloxone.
The Saving Today's Acute-Care Resources Act modifies how Medicare calculates payment rates for long-term care hospitals to ensure they receive appropriate funding for treating complex patients. Starting in fiscal year 2027, the bill expands the criteria for avoiding payment reductions by adding a "high acuity" standard that considers patients transferred from acute care or critical access hospitals with severe diagnoses. It also updates existing rules to include discharges from long-term care hospitals that have undergone significant construction projects or hold state certificates of need. These changes aim to adjust reimbursement levels based on the severity of patient conditions and the specific history of the hospital treating them.
The Pregnancy Loss Mental Health Research Act of 2026 directs the National Institutes of Health to expand research on mental health issues following pregnancy loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion. This legislation authorizes $4.5 million for fiscal years 2027 and 2028 to fund studies on the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of these conditions, as well as a long-term national study to track their prevalence and duration. Additionally, the bill modifies existing public health grants to allow funding for mental health services specifically for individuals who have experienced pregnancy loss, while prohibiting the use of these funds by entities that perform abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening medical emergencies.
The STOP GAMES Act of 2026 aims to speed up the approval of new drugs by restricting the ability to file petitions intended to delay the process. It empowers the Food and Drug Administration to deny petitions that lack valid scientific grounds or are submitted with the primary purpose of causing delays, such as those filed too late, too frequently, or without supporting data. Additionally, the bill requires courts to dismiss lawsuits challenging drug approvals if the parties have not first exhausted administrative remedies by filing a petition. The legislation also mandates that the FDA report to Congress on the number of petitions filed, the resources they consume, and the specific delays they cause to drug approvals.
The Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 aims to speed up care decisions and increase transparency for Medicare Advantage enrollees by establishing strict time limits for insurance plan responses to requests for coverage authorization. Beginning in 2028, plans must provide real-time approvals for low-risk services, respond to other authorization requests within 72 hours, and automatically pay claims for authorized services without manual review. The bill also prohibits plans from requiring new authorizations for clinically necessary changes to already approved treatments and mandates that medical necessity standards match those used in traditional Medicare. To ensure accountability, the legislation introduces a new compliance scoring system that could reduce payments to plans failing to meet these requirements and adds a specific domain to the public star ratings based on adherence to these rules.
The Rural MOMS Act of 2026 modifies how Medicare counts hospital beds, specifically excluding labor and delivery rooms from the total number of acute care inpatient beds used to determine if a facility qualifies as a Critical Access Hospital. This change directly affects rural hospitals that provide maternity services by altering the financial thresholds required to maintain their special status under the Medicare program. By removing delivery rooms from the bed count calculation, the bill aims to prevent these facilities from losing their designation solely because they offer childbirth care. The legislation does not change how these hospitals are funded or operated, but rather adjusts the metric used to evaluate their eligibility for critical access benefits.
The Access to Donor Milk Act of 2026 expands federal support for nonprofit organizations that collect, test, and distribute pasteurized donor human milk. It amends existing child nutrition laws to allow state agencies to use funds for storing unprocessed milk donations and transferring them to these nonprofit banks. Additionally, the bill authorizes competitive grants to help these banks increase their capacity during declared disasters or public health emergencies. The legislation also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a public awareness campaign educating parents and medical professionals about the benefits and safety of donor milk. Finally, it mandates that the Secretary of Health and Human Services convene a public meeting and issue draft safety standards for the collection and processing of donor human milk within 18 months of enactment.
