Citing uncertainty around federal cuts, Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a $56 billion budget proposal on Wednesday with little new funding for healthcare or other projects. [Health News Illinois] 

The proposal includes just 0.5 percent of new spending, and it is laid out under the assumption that Illinois will win court battles over receiving federal funds for public health grants and other projects that the Trump administration has attempted to cut.

“Despite the headwinds, the Illinois economy has proven remarkably resilient — forging ahead on our path toward accelerating growth and expansion,” he said during his annual budget address.

One of the major provisions pushed by Pritzker on Wednesday is a new tax on social media companies with at least 100,000 users in Illinois. Companies would be taxed on a graduated scale, starting at 10 cents per user each month. 

The fee is expected to generate $200 million per year to support K-12 education.

Pritzker said part of the goal is to address the mental health challenges in adolescents caused by social media algorithms.

“It’s a challenge unique to this generation, and it is made worse by the perverse incentive that social media companies seem to have to keep kids scrolling no matter what the cost to their physical and mental health,” he said.

The package also spends $50 million to implement provisions of the federal tax-and-spending bill passed last summer. 

That includes hiring 450 new staff, community outreach and technological infrastructure to prepare for changes like work requirements in the Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Pritzker’s office anticipates that $100 million will need to be spent over the next two fiscal years to implement federal requirements.

The package also allocates $143.6 million for a program that provides Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented individuals 65 years and older. Enrollment in that program will remain paused.

A similar program that provided coverage for undocumented individuals between the ages of 42 and 64 sunset last year.

The proposal also calls for a $0.60 per hour rate increase for direct support professionals and the implementation of a model at community-based living arrangements to add staffing support for residents.

Other provisions include: 

• $193.4 million for the new Rural Health Transformation program to support rural healthcare providers and residents. Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Elizabeth Whitehorn said Wednesday they will request $100 million in  supplemental appropriation for the current fiscal year for the rural healthcare transformation, which she said will allow the agency to draw down the award.
• $166.8 million increase for the Department of Aging’s Community Care Program to support caseload and utilization growth and to annualize a $1.17 per hour rate increase for in-home providers.
• $148.8 million in funding for the Ligas consent decree.
• $39 million to implement the Tailored Case Management Program. 
• $81.5 million to support shelters and other services for homeless populations.
• $22 million to support and promote full-spectrum reproductive care through community-based providers.
• $14.5 million for the Healthcare Transformation 1115 Waiver, focusing on infrastructure and limited housing services.
• $34 million increase to phase in the opening of additional mental health forensic beds in the Willow Building at the Alton Mental Health Center.
• $14 million for the Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Care Regulation to hire an additional 61 staff for licensing, inspecting and certifying healthcare facility compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Continued funding for the medical debt relief program.

Health associations were generally supportive of the proposal.

“We are encouraged by the Governor’s efforts to make healthcare more affordable for working families and to invest in programs that expand access to essential services statewide,” the Illinois Primary Health Care Association said in a statement. “Community health centers are on the front lines of delivering primary, preventive, and behavioral health services, and state support for affordability and access directly strengthens their ability to meet growing patient needs and address persistent health disparities.”

"We are grateful that Governor Pritzker has recognized that behavioral health care is not a discretionary expense, but a lifeline," said Community Behavioral Health Care Association of Illinois CEO Blanca Campos. “The Governor's commitment to maintaining this funding protects access to critical mental health and substance use disorder services for tens of thousands of Illinoisans who depend on them, after years of increased funding, is praiseworthy.”

“(Pritzker’s) continued commitment to affordability for Illinois residents through initiatives aimed at things like reducing medical debt and expanding affordable housing reflects a deep understanding of the many factors that impact community health,” said Illinois Association of Free and Charitable Clinics Executive Director Laura Starr. “These priorities will directly strengthen the well-being of the communities we serve.”

The AIDS Foundation Chicago said the budget cuts $1 million from HIV programs. It comes at a time when new HIV diagnoses are on the rise in Illinois, and the Trump administration has sought to cut funding to HIV programs.

“Illinois has always led the fight against HIV,” said foundation CEO John Peller. “At a time when federal protections are being stripped away, and communities are under attack, our state needs to double down. Investing in HIV care, prevention, and housing isn’t optional. It’s how we save lives and end this epidemic.”

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Governor Pritzker vows to keep Illinoisans informed, protected, and prepared amid President Trump’s retreat from global public health cooperation. [IDPH]

CHICAGO – Today, Governor Pritzker announced the State of Illinois is joining the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), a coordinated international network dedicated to monitoring and responding to global disease outbreaks.

Following President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization and retreat from global public health cooperation, Illinois will now be directly connected to timely global alerts, expert public health networks, and international response capabilities essential to protecting Illinois residents from emerging disease threats. ​

“By withdrawing from the World Health Organization, Donald Trump has undermined science and weakened our nation’s ability to detect and respond to global health threats. I refuse to sit idly by and let that happen,” said Governor JB Pritzker. "By joining the World Health Organization’s coordinated network, GOARN, we are ensuring that our public health leaders – and the public – have the information, expertise, and partnerships they need to protect the people of our state. Across our state and alongside valued partners around the world, Illinois will continue to put science, preparedness, and people first.”

“We're dedicated to following the international standard for health and wellness, and this is another step in that work,” said Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton. “Just as Illinois continues to follow a scientifically supported vaccine schedule, we will continue to rely on evidence, data, and medical expertise to guide our decisions. We will always choose the health of our people over political grandstanding or misinformation, and we will remain focused on what keeps families and communities safe.”

The outbreak response network, GOARN, is a WHO-coordinated, worldwide partnership of hundreds of public health institutions, national governments, academic centers, laboratories, and response organizations focused on rapidly detecting and responding to emerging public health threats. Membership in this network strengthens Illinois’ preparedness for future pandemics and emerging threats, and complements the Illinois Department of Public Health’s (IDPH) ongoing coordination with U.S. public-health partners, fortifying response efforts at home while gaining access to global expertise and real-time outbreak intelligence.

“Disease knows no borders, and Illinois is taking decisive steps to strengthen our preparedness,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “Joining the World Health Organization's GOARN connects us to global experts, rapid alerts, and real-time intelligence, essential tools for preventing and managing outbreaks. Under Governor Pritzker’s leadership, IDPH will continue to take decisive action to protect the health of Illinois residents.”

By joining the network, Illinois will benefit from WHO membership resources including:

• Direct access to global early-warning alerts and outbreak intelligence.
• Opportunities for technical collaboration and surge support during major public health events.
• Participation in international training, exercises, and best-practice exchanges.
• Stronger coordination between state-level public health systems and global response efforts.

Illinois already brings state resources, experience, and other advantages to GOARN:

• Strong epidemiologic and laboratory capacity, including expanded genomic sequencing and wastewater surveillance built during COVID-19.
• Rapid deployment expertise supporting outbreak investigations, infection prevention, and risk communication.
• Experience sharing data, expertise, and lessons learned with local, state, federal, academic, and international partners.

Governor Pritzker is dedicated to maintaining strong public health infrastructure in Illinois, despite federal actions that have eroded trust in science and weakened public health coordination and capacity.

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Predicting a 90,000 shortage of doctors by 2037, with the greatest shortage in rural areas. | Primary care is the first point of contact for most patients.
[Health Resources and Services Administration; Visual Capitalist]

Why...? Why...? Why...? Jasper whimpered, not just once or twice, but repeatedly. It was January 2026. For one awful week, my friend's 21-month-old grandson was practically inert, spiked fevers to 103^o, and barely ate or drank, all the while voicing his single word of despair. [MEDPAGE TODAY] 

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Meanwhile, his mother and grandmother, who are both physicians in Boston, worried about dehydration, viral pneumonia, even a bacterial super-infection. They were also grieved to see a normally joyous toddler so psychologically distressed.

This year, some version of "Why does my body feel so horrible?" entered the thoughts of many children fighting a newly-mutated strain of H3N2 influenza A that surged early -- and hard. Although its final toll will not be tallied for months, data released by CDC on February 6 confirmed that 60 U.S. youngsters had already perished this season. Five of them were in Massachusetts, a state that last saw a child die of flu in 2013.

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Grateful for the leadership shown and looking forward to our 250th anniversary with optimism!!

The Rural Health Transformation Program’s (RHTP's) $50 billion injection is “a significant step forward” for the rural health safety net but likely comes too late to reverse years of deterioration that have left hundreds of hospitals in jeopardy. [[Fierce Healthcare]

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That’s according to the latest annual report from Chartis on the current state of rural health. This time around, the healthcare advisory services firm warned that 41.2% of all rural hospitals are operating in the red, and 417 are “vulnerable to closure” based on a model Chartis developed that incorporates factors like net patient revenue changes and consecutive years of operating losses.

Those numbers are a slight improvement over last year’s report, which flagged 46% of rural hospitals operating at a loss and 432 vulnerable facilities.

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The first national behavioral health leadership collaborative within the Children’s Hospital Association has merged with a youth suicide prevention initiative to form a network of 30 hospitals focused on the advancement of pediatric behavioral health, Stacy Drury, MD, PhD, psychiatrist-in-chief at Boston Children’s, told Becker’s.  [Becker's Behavioral Health]

“Children’s hospitals are uniquely capable of [redesigning the whole process in a system] because of their commitment to the community and being kid-focused,” she said. 

The collaborative will expand shared data collection to identify which approaches are most effective and accelerate the pace of improvement beyond traditional academic timelines, which can take years to publish findings.

“These are really important networks that allow you to activate data across all of the children’s hospitals around best practices, but also [determine] who in your community do you need to partner with,” Dr. Drury said. “Who do you need to get at the table to design an iterative quality improvement structure that has the same capacity to advance care that has happened with the sepsis network, the Children’s Oncology Network and the Vermont Oxford Network?”

It is designed to apply that data-driven model to pediatric behavioral health, enabling children’s hospitals to share insights and scale effective solutions more quickly.

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Despite medical advancements, maternal mortality rates have doubled since 1987. Yet more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths have been deemed preventable. [American Hospital Association] 

We know that behind every statistic is a mother and child. Hospitals across the country are rewriting the story of maternal care — one data point, one mom, one family and one partnership at a time. 

Working alongside hospitals and health systems, the American Hospital Association’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies (BHMB) initiative aims to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and reduce pregnancy-related morbidity across the United States. This initiative is built on four core principles: Examine quality and outcomes data to guide strategy; consider the causes of disparities in health outcomes; involve patients and community in their own care; and engage the workforce.

During the summer of 2025, the AHA launched its BHMB webinar series, organized around the four core principles, where hospital leaders and clinicians shared how they are putting them into action.

The first session focused on the power of data and quality metrics and featured Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation and Regional One Health. Vicki Buchda, director of care improvement from Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association stated, “We can’t treat what we don’t measure — and we can’t improve what we don’t share.”

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The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law No. 119-21), is a major new federal initiative to strengthen rural healthcare delivery and stabilize essential services. NRHA developed this document to provide a picture of how states are designing and initially budgeting their transformation strategies. 

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All information summarized in this document is drawn from state applications and other publicly available sources. In some cases, it reflects NRHA’s best interpretation of partial or variable information provided by states. As of December 29th, 2025, CMS has announced the RHTP FY2026 funding-level awards for each state. State activities summarized in this brief do not reflect CMS funding decisions and therefore may change. Find CMS’ state application abstracts here and state spotlights here.

Early trends show strong focus on health workforce stabilization, prevention and CDM, and VBP and innovative care models. Many states focus on strengthening rural systems for resilience through hospital sustainability, EMS modernization, mobile and community-based service delivery, and models with regional support and local delivery. Technology modernization through consumer-facing tools, telehealth, interoperability, and cybersecurity are common across states. Almost every state includes behavioral health access and SUD treatment as a priority. Across states, RHTP proposals emphasize strengthening the rural care infrastructure, building local partnerships, and addressing long-standing gaps in access.

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A senior US public health official called on Americans to get vaccinated against measles as outbreaks continue in multiple states and concerns grow that the country could lose its measles elimination designation. Dr Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, spoke in support on Sunday of the measles vaccine. [The Guardian]

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“Take the vaccine, please,” said Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “We have a solution for our problem.

“Not all illnesses are equally dangerous and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses,” he told CNN’s State of the Union. “But measles is one you should get your vaccine.”

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