Kidney & Federal Health Policy — Regulatory Tracker

Rules, Guidance & Executive Actions in Play

CMS · HHS · OIG · OMB · U.S. Treasury · Executive Orders · MAC bulletins — filtered to prior authorization, electronic payments, payment models, out-of-pocket maximums, dialysis/ESRD, Medicare Advantage, Medicare, Medicaid, and Medicaid work requirements.

SNAPSHOT LAST UPDATED · AUGUST 19, 2026 — this is a point-in-time research pull, not an auto-refreshing feed.
Agency
Topic
Status

State-Level Implementation — Section 1115 Waivers & State Plan Amendments

Work requirements can reach patients earlier than the Jan 1, 2027 federal deadline through either an approved Section 1115 demonstration waiver or a State Plan Amendment (SPA). Colorado included for home-state reference; it has not announced early implementation.

On MAC bulletins

Medicare Administrative Contractor Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) for dialysis/ESRD-related items (e.g., dialysis access maintenance, hemodialysis frequency) update continuously on a rolling jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis rather than on discrete national effective dates, so they don't fit neatly into a dated table. Check current/proposed LCDs directly via the CMS Medicare Coverage Database (MCD), filtered to your relevant MAC jurisdiction, for the live list.

On improper payment measurement (CERT)

CMS's Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) program isn't a rule with proposed/effective dates — it's a standing annual audit mechanism that samples Medicare FFS claims to estimate the improper-payment rate by claim type. The FY2025 overall rate was 6.55% ($28.83B); Part B providers, which include outpatient dialysis claims, came in at 8.44%. Worth knowing as ongoing context/audit exposure, but it doesn't belong in the dated rule table above.

Keeping this current

Sources are linked on every card. For an ongoing feed rather than a snapshot, this pairs well with the legislative/regulatory monitoring tool you've been building — this dashboard's structure (agency, rule ID, status, proposed/effective dates, topic tags, source link) maps directly onto a database schema you could pull into it.