Sponsors (4)
Requires annual federal agency reports on primary care spending amounts and shares, and creates an HHS Working Group to study prioritization, access, and quality of primary care.
The bill increases transparency and generates recommendations to strengthen primary care, potentially improving access and lowering long‑term costs, but it creates administrative costs, risks inconsistent measurement, and could shift funding away from some specialty services.
Taxpayers, patients (especially those with chronic conditions), and hospitals will get clearer, standardized federal reporting on primary care spending, improving transparency and helping policymakers identify funding gaps and reallocate funds toward primary care to support preventive services and potentially lower downstream costs.
Patients in rural and underserved communities, including Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, may see improved primary care access and quality if the HHS Working Group’s recommendations are adopted.
If reporting prompts reallocation of funds toward primary care, some specialized programs or services could lose funding, harming patients who rely on specialty care or other reduced services.
Inconsistent or misaligned definitions of 'primary care spending' across federal agencies could produce misleading comparisons that undermine transparency and delay effective policy responses, confusing state governments and health systems.
Agencies and HHS will incur administrative costs and require staff time to measure and report primary care spending and run the Working Group, which could increase burdens on federal employees and raise costs for taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to require reports on primary care spending under Federal health care programs and to establish a working group on primary care.
Introduced May 12, 2026 by David Rouzer · Last progress May 12, 2026
Requires federal agencies that run federal health care programs to measure and report how much they spend on primary care and what share of health spending primary care represents. Directs HHS to create a multi-stakeholder Working Group to study federal prioritization of primary care, access to primary care providers (including rural and underserved areas), and the availability and quality of primary care, and to deliver recommendations to Congress within a year of the group's creation.