(March 17, 2026) - As both the House and Senate appropriations committees begin their work on the fiscal year 2027 budget, the Kansas Hospital Association has submitted several appropriations requests for consideration in next year’s budget. Our 2027 requests include:
- Protect the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program/Small Rural Hospital Improvement funding.
- Reauthorize the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program before it expires in 2028.
- Instruct the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to increase the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist pass-through cap and require a regular review
- Attach the reasonable cost-based reimbursement cap to the Medicare Economic Index; and
- Instruct that Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Government Accountability Office review the inclusion of on-call CRNA costs on the cost report and how that can be fixed sustainably.
- Include the bill text of the Professional Student Degree Act which would define a “professional degree” and list the graduate programs that meet the criteria, including many health care programs.
- Request a report to Congress on how a revised formula or other payment mechanism can enable Sole Community Hospitals and Medicare Dependent Hospitals to receive full Graduate Medical Education payments to grow the physician workforce.
The House appropriations request deadlines were the first week of March.