CMS Reminds Essential Community Providers to Apply or Renew by Aug. 12
Essential Community Providers (ECPs) are healthcare facilities that serve predominantly low-income and medically underserved individuals. Eligible providers include Critical Access Hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program providers, Title X family planning providers, Indian healthcare providers, and other providers that meet eligibility criteria established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Under federal Affordable Care Act Marketplace requirements, Qualified Health Plan issuers must include a sufficient number and geographic distribution of ECPs in their provider networks. To support this requirement, CMS maintains the Essential Community Provider List, which issuers use to identify and contract with eligible providers. Facilities that want to be included on the Final Plan Year 2028 ECP List should submit a new application or update an existing application by Aug. 12. Existing ECPs are encouraged to complete the annual renewal process—even if no information has changed—to help ensure their information remains current and visible to Marketplace issuers seeking ECP network partners.
State Launches FRESH Program to Support Illinoisans Removed from SNAP
Yesterday, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Dept. of Human Services (IDHS) announced that Illinoisans who lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will receive a one-time $400 benefit per eligible household member through the new Families Receiving Emergency Support for Hunger (FRESH) program. This $70 million program was enacted as part of the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget. Approximately 100,000 Illinoisans will receive a one-time benefit beginning Aug. 1, and IDHS will provide funding each month to additional individuals who lose coverage until funding is exhausted. Click here for more information about the FRESH Program.
Registration Open for Illinois Weather and Public Health Response Summit
Registration for the second annual Illinois Weather and Public Health Response is now open. The two-day conference focused on weather-related impacts to the health of humans, animals, and the environment will bring together public health professionals and community leaders working to protect and promote health across sectors. The summit will highlight innovative approaches, strengthen partnerships, and support coordinated responses to weather-related public health challenges.
Click here to register for the summit, which will take place Oct. 6-7 in Champaign. The event is intended for healthcare providers and administrators, emergency preparedness staff, public health departments, and community health organizations and employees.
Guidance Issued on Minimum Software Elements for Cybersecurity Improvements
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency joined other U.S. and international agencies recently in issuing joint guidance that outlines minimum elements for a “software bill of materials” intended to help organizations better understand and enhance their cybersecurity efforts. The updated guidance replaces the 2021 minimum elements identified by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) identifies all components contained in a software product. Other types of software, such as artificial intelligence and software-as-a-service in cloud environments, may require additional elements. This guidance is helpful to organizations using devices that may not be listed as compromised, but may have a deeply embedded software component that contains an unpatched technical vulnerability that could ultimately compromise the device.
Illinois Respiratory Disease Surveillance Data
The Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) provides the latest data on hospital visits, seasonal trends, lab test positivity and demographic data. IDPH also tracks COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus information through the Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard.
Briefly Noted
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has released a new Guide to GME Development in Rural and Underserved Areas. Developed in collaboration with the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Residency Planning and Development Technical Assistance Center, this practical guide is designed to help organizations develop and expand graduate medical education (GME) in rural and underserved communities.
Leading the News
Pritzker signs bills addressing financial exploitation, nursing home mental health evaluations
WAND
Gov. JB Pritzker signed multiple bills into law Thursday to uplift vulnerable people across the state. Democrats and Republicans worked together to tackle financial exploitation of seniors and improve mental health evaluations in nursing homes.
Medicaid enrollment shifts trigger ‘financial mountain’ for hospitals
Becker’s Hospital Review
Patients in Deaconess Illinois’ coverage area who previously carried some Medicaid coverage are losing it – even before the HR-1 Medicaid work requirements go into effect early next year – and a negative financial impact is already surfacing.
Building a destination hospital through innovation, workforce investment and specialty growth with Timothy Layman, DNP
Becker’s Hospital Review
In this episode, Timothy Layman, DNP, MBA-HC, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CENP, President and Chief Administrative Officer, St. Mary’s Hospital, Hospital Sisters Health System, discusses the hospital’s transformational modernization efforts, strategies for strengthening the healthcare workforce, and how AI, physician recruitment, and specialty service expansion are positioning the organization for long-term growth and better patient outcomes.
