State Health Updates

• Alabama – Governor Kay Ivey announced the first meeting of the Alabama Rural Health Transformation Advisory Group, which she established by executive order to advance policy development and implementation of Alabama’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Members of the advisory group include state legislative leaders and representatives.
• California
  • The state highlighted its efforts to prevent and fight fraud, including a moratorium on hospice licensures, the revocation of more than 280 hospice licenses, and ongoing state investigations. The press release further explains that while California maintains strong oversight of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, Medicare is a federally administered program overseen by CMS. Reports referencing hospice fraud involving Medicare fall under federal jurisdiction, not California’s Medi-Cal program or state oversight.
  • Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Rises announced $2.2 million in funding for UCLA Health’s Sound Body Sound Mind program, which will support the deployment of proven mental health interventions in communities impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires to enhance overall resilience, well-being, and health. With this new funding, 33 schools impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires will receive comprehensive support through the program over the next two full school years, supporting an estimated 30,000 students.
• Colorado – The Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) announced that as part of the RHTP, it will be building out a set of stakeholder engagement, community collaboration and statewide grant support processes. The RHTP Advisory Committee will be appointed by HCPF’s executive director, building on input from stakeholders, the governor’s office, recommendations by the committee chair and submitted advisory committee applications.
• Florida – The state submitted a request for a new five-year Medicaid section 1115 demonstration entitled, “Florida Institutions for Mental Disease Section 1115 Demonstration.” This demonstration aims to provide coverage of services based in institutions of mental diseases, such as substance-use detoxification, recovery support services, and psychiatric treatment, for individuals enrolled in Medicaid diagnosed with serious mental illness or serious emotional disorder and/or substance-use disorder.
• Maryland – Governor Wes Moore announced the latest provisional data from Maryland’s Overdose Data Dashboard, which show that drug overdose deaths decreased by 26% last year, marking the fourth consecutive year of reported decreases in the state. There were 1,315 overdose deaths in the state in 2025, representing the lowest level seen in the last 10 years and a 53% decrease from the state’s historic high of 2,800 in 2021.
• Michigan – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is requesting letters of interest from organizations interested in grant funding to develop Recovery Community Centers (RCCs) and Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs). The grants, funded through the State of Michigan Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund, are intended to help organizations cover start-up and early operational costs. RCCs and RCOs help strengthen local recovery systems by offering peer-based advocacy and connections to services.
• Minnesota – The Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the beginning of a statewide push to ensure Medicaid providers in 13 high-risk services have the qualifications required by law. DHS put out a call across all state agencies to temporarily redeploy 168 qualified workers to help revalidate over 5,800 Medicaid providers by this summer. The effort is a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to convince CMS to reverse course on a highly unusual action to withhold over $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding for low-income Minnesotans.
• Montana – The Department of Public Health and Human Services has partnered with the state library to launch the Library Blood Pressure Toolkit program. Free toolkits are now available for checkout—similar to borrowing a book—at 25 participating libraries. Each kit features an automated blood pressure cuff, a pedometer to track physical activity, a personal measurement log, and a comprehensive directory of clinical and community resources.
• New Mexico – Governor Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 1, which allows physicians licensed in other compact states to practice in New Mexico more easily. This will help address the state’s healthcare workforce shortage and improve access to care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Forty-three states, including those bordering New Mexico, participate in the licensure compacts.
• New York 
  • The New York State Department of Health and the New York City Department of Health announced their official endorsement of the 2026 childhood and adolescent immunization schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The Departments of Health encourage all medical providers and families to use the AAP schedule to protect their patients and children.
  • Governor Kathy Hochul announced that communities participating in New York State’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative reported the lowest levels of shooting incidents on record last year. Year-end data shows that shooting incidents with injury, the number of individuals shot, and gun violence-related deaths across the 28 GIVE agencies all reached record lows statewide.
• North Carolina – Governor Josh Stein signed an executive order to improve behavioral healthcare and public safety in North Carolina. Executive order 33 directs several cabinet agencies to take action strengthening how the state’s behavioral health and criminal justice systems coordinate and serve the public.