Hospital Quality Incentive Amendments
SB 305 modifies how Utah calculates Medicaid hospital provider assessments and integrates quality incentive arrangements into Medicaid accountable care organization payment rates. It directly affects Utah hospitals serving Medicaid patients by requiring them to meet specific quality standards to qualify for additional payments. Key provisions include using funds from the Hospital Provider Assessment Expendable Revenue Fund to support quality strategies (capping annual spending at $211,300) and monitoring how accountable care organizations distribute funds to hospitals (capping annual spending at $200,000). The bill takes effect on May 6, 2026, and updates existing Medicaid payment structures without appropriating new state funds.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Mar 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Signed into Law
Mar 2026
Introduced Feb 18, 2026
Signed Mar 19, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Substitute #1
→
Enrolled
·
6 edits
·
Mar 19, 2026
MODERATE
This bill establishes a new quarterly assessment on hospitals to fund Medicaid programs and support Accountable Care Organizations. It sets a strict cap of $1 million annually for mandatory Medicaid expenditures while allowing funds to seed payments for care organizations. The law also introduces new quality standards for rural and specialty hospitals and clarifies how assessments are calculated for hospitals owned by the same organization or sharing provider numbers.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope by creating a new mandatory financial assessment on all hospitals and introducing specific quality reporting requirements for rural and specialty facilities.
FISCAL
Created a new quarterly hospital assessment with a maximum annual cap of $1 million to offset Medicaid mandatory expenditures.
Allocated $154 million specifically for hospital inpatient directed payments for pre-2019 Medicaid eligibility categories.
REQUIREMENT
Required hospitals without Medicare certification to submit discharge data or face a 5% penalty.
Mandated that hospitals owned by the same organization be assessed separately unless they share the same Medicaid provider number.
Directed the state to adopt specific quality measures for rural and specialty hospitals under new rules.
TIMELINE
Set the effective date for these new assessment and funding rules to May 6, 2026.
Floor votes · Senate Mar 2, 2026 · House Mar 6, 2026
How they voted
26–0
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 29
Mar 2, 2026
D
Democratic6
100% Yea
N
Forward1
100% Yea
R
Republican22
86% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
44
Key actions
9
Committee
6
Mar 19, 2026
Signed into law
Governor Signed
executive
Mar 7, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ signed by President/ sent for enrolling
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Upper · Passed
House/ signed by Speaker/ returned to Senate
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ passed 3rd reading
lower
Mar 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
House/ committee report favorable [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]
lower
Mar 3, 2026
Lower · Passed
House Comm - Favorable Recommendation [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Committee
House/ to standing committee [House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee]
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Introduced
House/ 1st reading (Introduced)
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
Senate/ passed 3rd reading
lower
Feb 25, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate/ comm rpt/ substituted [Senate Health and Human Services Committee]
upper
Feb 24, 2026
Upper · Passed
Senate Comm - Favorable Recommendation [Senate Health and Human Services Committee]
upper
Feb 19, 2026
Committee
Senate/ to standing committee [Senate Health and Human Services Committee]
upper
Feb 18, 2026
Introduced
Senate/ 1st reading (Introduced)
upper
1 primary · 1 co-sponsor
Sponsors
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