CEO Update 259
Learn from Former Walmart Leadership Director and Author Neil Pasricha at the 2026 Annual Meeting!
NABH is pleased to welcome author and former Walmart leader Neil Pasricha to kick off Day 2 of the NABH 2026 Annual Meeting on Tuesday, March 3 at 10 a.m.
Pasricha’s research and books on happiness, mindset, and human potential have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times, CNN, and the BBC.
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Pasricha spent a decade as director of leadership at Walmart. It was during this period that he wrote his 50-million-hit, award-winning blog 1000 Awesome Things and the New York Times bestsellers The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation, which have been on international bestseller lists for more than 200 weeks and sold more than 1 million copies. Onstage, he’s known for his high energy and his applicable messages to leaders everywhere.
Please help us welcome Neil and other Annual Meeting speakers in March. We look forward to seeing you in Washington!
2026 Annual Meeting Hotel Reservation Cutoff Date is Approaching!
The hotel reservation cutoff date for the NABH 2026 Annual Meeting – Future-Forward Leadership: Imagine. Innovate. Transform. – is Monday, Feb. 9.
If you haven’t done so, please reserve your hotel room today to secure NABH’s group rate. Also please remember to register for this year’s meeting!
House Passes $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill Before Government Shutdown Deadline on Jan. 30
The House on Thursday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the majority of the federal government as the Jan. 30 government shutdown deadline looms.
The four-bill minibus includes nearly $117 billion for HHS and $13.7 billion for the U.S. Labor Department and a long-delayed health extenders package.
The Labor/HHS bill supports HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda but does not include funding for the new agency he proposed to create, the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). Kennedy’s planned AHA is a $19 billion proposal that would include functions of five existing agencies focusing on primary care, maternal and child health, mental health, environmental health, HIV/AIDS, and workforce development.
The health extenders package includes:
- A two-year extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 2027.
- An extension of Medicare add-on payments for low-volume hospitals through fiscal 2028 and the Medicare Dependent Hospital program through Dec. 31, 2026.
- An extension of incentive payments for participation in eligible alternative payment models (APMs) to cover 2028, with the incentive set at 3.1%.
- Multi-year extensions of funding for community health centers, the National Health Service Corps, and teaching health center graduate medical education programs.
- An extension of the Medicare Geographic Practice Cost Index floor through Jan. 1, 2027.
- Medicare Advantage provider directory accuracy requirements, addressing so-called “ghost networks” that have come under scrutiny in recent years.
- Language from the Accelerating Kids Access to Care Act to streamline out-of-state Medicaid provider requirements.
- A reduction in the Medicare Improvement Fund and an extension of Medicare sequestration instructions into fiscal year 2033, both used as budgetary offsets.
- Requirements for a separate identification number and attestation for each off-campus outpatient department.
More comprehensive site-neutral payment policies were omitted, as were two heavily supported bills from Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) that would have imposed tougher statutory Medicare Advantage prior authorization requirements and strengthened hospital price transparency rules.
As NABH expected, the package doesn’t include an extension of the expired enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. The legislation now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.
SAMHSA Announces Funding Opportunity for 988 Lifeline
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently announced a $231 million funding opportunity to administer the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
According to the announcement, public and private not-for-profit entities are eligible to apply, and the purpose of the program is to serve as the 988 Lifeline Administrator and manage, enhance, and strengthen the 988 lifeline.
Click here for more information. Applications are due by Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.
Fact of the Week
In a randomized clinical trial of 590 adults who had received evidence-based smoking cessation treatment and had abstained for three to 30 days, mobile chat messaging significantly increased six-month, biochemically validated tobacco abstinence compared with text messaging 45.9% versus 35.5%), according to a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
For questions or comments about this CEO Update, please contact Jessica Zigmond.