Maternal Health Legislation Enacted During 2025 Spring Session; Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program Website; Informational Medicaid IMPACT Revalidations Town Hall Sept. 18; APPLY: Reproductive Health Security Grant
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Friday, September 5, 2025

Today's Top Stories

  • Maternal Health Legislation Enacted During 2025 Spring Session
  • Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program Website
  • Informational Medicaid IMPACT Revalidations Town Hall Sept. 18
  • APPLY: Reproductive Health Security Grant
  • Illinois COVID-19 Data
  • Briefly Noted
  • Leading the News

Maternal Health Legislation Enacted During 2025 Spring Session
The Spring 2025 legislative session resulted in several maternal health bills being passed by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker. An IHA memo provides a summary of these laws, which include new requirements for hospitals that provide birthing and NICU care. These new Public Acts include:
 
P.A. 104-0009 – Hospital Policies for Medicaid Certified Doulas
P.A. 104-0071 – Prenatal Syphilis Testing Changes
P.A. 104-0294 – Early Intervention Program Notification
 
Information on additional legislation of interest to Illinois hospitals and health systems can be found in IHA’s 2025 End of Session Report.
 
Staff contact: Lance Kovacs
 
Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program Website 
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a website with details of the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program ahead of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) expected later in September. The RHT Program funding is $50 billion to be allocated to approved States over five fiscal years, with $10 billion of funding available each fiscal year, beginning in fiscal year 2026 and ending in fiscal year 2030. In accordance with the authorizing statute, only the 50 U.S. States are eligible to receive an RHT Program award; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories are not eligible. Application instructions to apply for RHT Program funding will be included in the NOFO and released on grants.gov by mid-September. Read the RHT Program overview to learn more. 
 
Informational Medicaid IMPACT Revalidations Town Hall Sept. 18
The Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) is currently conducting IMPACT Medicaid provider revalidations. To assist providers with navigating the IMPACT enrollment system and answer questions, HFS is hosting monthly, virtual town hall meetings. IHA recommends hospitals participate in these town hall meetings if you have an upcoming revalidation. The next town hall is Sept. 18 from 3-3:45 p.m. CT. Click here to register or view the town hall meeting schedule.
 
IHA urges all providers to check their revalidation cycle due date and submit necessary information to complete their revalidation. To view the revalidation due dates of servicing providers affiliated with your hospitals, click here for step-by-step instructions. If you do not complete your revalidation, you will be disenrolled from IMPACT and providers can no longer bill for services provided to Illinois Medicaid enrollees, including those enrolled in managed care organizations.
 
APPLY: Reproductive Health Security Grant
As healthcare organizations continue to seek resources to address workplace violence, the Illinois Dept. of Public Health has issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity to support organizations experiencing a security threat due to the provision of reproductive health services, including abortion. The Reproductive Health Security Grant provides funding to eligible reproductive healthcare facilities in Illinois that provide reproductive healthcare services, including abortion, and that are determined to be at a high risk of being targeted by unlawful activity, such as acts of violence, property damage, vandalism, harassment, etc. This grant is intended to increase security measures at clinics to help protect against these attacks. Click here for eligibility criteria, funding objectives, application procedures and additional information. 
 

Illinois COVID-19 Data

 

The Infectious Respiratory Disease Surveillance Dashboard from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) is updated every Friday. This report provides the latest data on hospital visits, seasonal trends, lab test positivity and demographic data. Click here to visit the IDPH COVID-19 webpage. IDPH reports the weekly number of people with COVID-19 admitted to hospitals from emergency departments, deaths and vaccinations, with COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus information also reported through the Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard.

 

Briefly Noted

 

The deadline to register for Rush’s Sept. 19. SUD-COE OUD Symposium (Substance Use Disorder Center of Excellence for Opioid Use Disorder) has been extended to Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. CT. Now open to healthcare professionals of all disciplines, the event will feature timely discussions on buprenorphine prescription; wrap-around services; co-occurring disorders; and culturally respectful care for people who use drugs. This educational training will be held from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. CT at the Searle Conference Center at Rush University Medical Center. Full-day attendance is required and Continuing Medical Education credits will be provided. Click here to access registration information, click here to view a flyer with additional information.

 

Leading the News

 

Statewide: Upward mobility in Illinois

WSIU

A new study suggests upward mobility is more difficult in Illinois than many would think. Although educational attainment and career choices have the biggest influence over a person's income potential, the economic class into which they are born also plays a role.

 

Rural hospitals painted as bright spot in tense RFK Jr. Senate hearing: 3 takeaways

Becker’s Hospital Review

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 4 to explain his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda and defend sweeping changes to the CDC, vaccine policy and other federal health programs. 

 

The infection metric hospitals need to standardize: 7 notes

Becker’s Hospital Review

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers found there is no standard definition for what constitutes contamination in a blood culture, which could lead to more false positives and CLABSI infections.

 

Northwestern Medicine 1st to integrate Tempus AI co-pilot into EHR

Becker’s Hospital Review

Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine is the first health system to integrate David, a generative AI clinical co-pilot developed by Tempus, into its electronic health record platform.

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