Advocacy Outreach
NOSORH invites its partners and the partners of any of the fifty State Offices of Rural Health to join our advocacy efforts.
The 2025 advocacy priorities of NOSORH are to:
- Increase appropriation of State Offices of Rural Health to $15 million
- Reauthorize the State Flex program to ensure vital statistics to an array of rural health stakeholders
- Establish statutory authority for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP)
Factsheets
State Flex Program Reauthorization
In 2024, the Rural Hospital Flexibility Act was introduced in Congress (S. 5308/H.R.10187)to reauthorize and modify the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. The strong bipartisan bills were authored by Sens. Barrasso/Hassan/Blackburn/Cortez Masto in the Senate and Reps. Miller and Sewell in the House. The intent of the bill is to provide stability to the grant program, which provides states with the funding needed to support Critical Access Hospitals in all 50 states. We ask that members cosponsor and work to pass this critical legislation in the 119th Congress.
State Offices of Rural Health Appropriations Request
In December 2022, Congress reauthorized the State Office of Rural Health (SORH) program and the President signed the bill into law as Public Law No: 117-356. This law authorizes the SORH program through fiscal year 2027. However, additional funding is needed for the State Offices. Through the annual appropriations process, we ask Congress to fund SORH’s at $15 million in FY 2026.
Establishing Statutory Authority for RCORP
The Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) has effectively improved access to behavioral health services in rural areas since 2018, receiving bipartisan support in Congress and gaining approval from rural communities and healthcare providers. However, its future remains uncertain without established statutory authority.
Outreach
- NOSORH Primary Care Offices (PCO) Support – March 2022
- Letter to House Appropriators – FY 23
- Letter to Senate Appropriations Committee – FY 23
- Medicare Performance-Based Incentives and Rural Hospitals – FY 2020
- State Profiles – Rural IPPS Hospital Medicare Payment Reductions and Enhancements – FY 2020