Sponsors (2)
The bill funds targeted QIO assistance to make hospitals and facility-based care more resilient to extreme weather—reducing care disruptions for vulnerable patients—at the cost of a $50 million draw on the Medicare trust fund and potential gaps for non-facility providers or other QIO priorities.
Hospitals and other facility-based providers will receive targeted QIO support to prepare for and respond to extreme weather, improving continuity of care and reducing disruptions and health risks for patients with chronic conditions and seniors during disasters.
Provides $50 million in FY2026 to CMS to implement the new QIO duty, enabling immediate program rollout, technical assistance, and faster uptake of resilience activities by facilities.
The $50 million transfer reduces funds in the Federal Hospital Insurance (Medicare) Trust Fund, potentially affecting Medicare reserves or other trust-funded priorities.
QIOs may be diverted from other quality improvement activities to provide climate/extreme weather support unless supplemental resources cover new staffing and workloads, which could reduce attention to existing priorities.
Support is limited to specified facility types, leaving outpatient clinics, home health, and other non-facility providers without funded QIO assistance for extreme weather resilience and potentially widening gaps for rural and at-home care patients.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires QIOs to support facility-based providers’ extreme-weather preparedness and provides a $50M FY2026 transfer to CMS to implement it.
Official title: To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for support to facility-based providers through contracts with quality improvement organizations.
Introduced February 11, 2026 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress February 11, 2026
Requires Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) to help hospitals and other facility-based providers prepare for and respond to extreme weather events and related risks. The bill directs a one-time $50 million transfer from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund to the CMS Program Management Account for FY2026 (available until expended) to implement that new QIO duty and support the work. The change adds a statutory QIO duty to provide preparedness and response support to seven types of facility-based providers (including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, critical access hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities) and defines those provider categories by cross-reference to existing Medicare definitions.