Recent Activity

HPNA’s Advocacy Toolkit is now available for download. This resource is a great way to get started with HPNA’s policy initiatives and advocate at the local, state, and national levels.

Congress passed legislation Wednesday to end the weeks-long government shutdown, funding the government through January 30, 2026, and reinstating telehealth flexibilities among other healthcare extenders. The final vote in the House was 222-209 with two Republicans opposed to the legislation and six Democrats voting for it, and the bill was signed into law soon after. The bill includes a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through January 30 and provides full fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch, and Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration. It also reinstates through the end of January all healthcare extenders, including: Medicare telehealth flexibilities, the Acute Hospital at Home waiver, Medicare-dependent hospital program, community health centers, prevention of Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) cuts, and low-income Medicare programs.

HPNA joined a broad alliance of health care providers this week in urging federal policymakers to enact a long-term extension of telehealth flexibilities, restore telehealth services that expired in October, and work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure retroactive payment to clinicians who continued providing telehealth services during this funding lapse. For more information on HPNA’s advocacy work, please join the HPNA Advocacy Network here.

Congressional leaders were unable to negotiate a federal funding bill this week, and a government shutdown is now in effect. It is unclear how long this lapse in funding will last; historically, some shutdowns have lasted a few days, and the longest, in 2018, was for 34 days. Among the programs impacted by the funding lapse is one of HPNA’s policy priorities: the extension of pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities, which are expired as of September 30 and will only be renewed if Congress provides funding for the extension in the next appropriations bill. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided some guidance for providers during this time, but it has not indicated whether claims for telehealth services delivered outside rural areas and other settings will be covered retroactively after the government reopens. HPNA’s advocacy team continues to monitor the funding lapse and telehealth extension. Please join the Advocacy Network for frequent updates and advocacy engagement opportunities, or reach out to the advocacy team with any questions.

HPNA hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill September 17 for House and Senate staff and representatives of partner organizations that highlighted the important work hospice and palliative nurses do every day and underscored the need for continued support of federal programs that support this work, such as the National Institutes for Nursing Research (NINR), Title VIII education and workforce grants, and palliative care research through the National Institutes of Health. 

Before Congress adjourned for the August district work period last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed legislation to fund the Departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. This bill still must be voted on by the full Senate and negotiated with the House Appropriations Committee, but it is a positive step forward for nursing education and research, in particular because it includes language preserving the National Institutes for Nursing Research (NINR) and Title VIII nursing education and workforce development programs, which were proposed to be eliminated in the President’s budget. Additionally, the bill provides continued funding for palliative care research through the National Institutes of Aging.

HPNA joined several organizations on a Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) letter thanking sponsors of workplace violence prevention legislation.

With more Americans living longer and facing complex health conditions, the need for high-quality palliative care has never been greater. In a move to strengthen the evidence base for serious illness care, the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care (NCHPC) submitted written testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, urging continued support for a national palliative care research strategy.

The Nursing Community Coalition is deeply disappointed to see the severe cuts suggested to key domestic and health care programs in the Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 skinny budget. As a broad overview of what will ultimately be included in the Administration’s FY 2026 budget, this initial blueprint stops short in meeting the nation’s growing demand for nursing workforce and research, especially as health care needs in our country continue to grow.