OME Advocate Newsletter

On January 22, 2026, the House passed the remaining fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHSE), Defense and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, H.R. 7148. These bills were then packaged together with the other three remaining FY26 appropriations bills—Department of Homeland Security, Financial Services and State and Foreign Operations—and sent to the Senate for action this week. Following escalating tensions in Minnesota and elsewhere, Senate Democrats have indicated they want to remove funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the other funding bills. This and any other concerns must be resolved before the current continuing resolution expires on January 30, 2026.

Overall, the FY26 LHHSE appropriations bill provides $221 billion, including $116.6 billion for Health and Human Services (HHS), $100 million below the FY25 enacted level, and $79 billion to the Department of Education (ED), $217 million above FY25 enacted levels.

AACOM successes include report language urging increased osteopathic research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), encouraging more community-based clinical rotations and expanding use of osteopathic manipulative medicine and non-pharmacological treatment for pain, as well as an extension of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program for four years with a substantial annual funding increase. According to the negotiated Joint Explanatory Statement, both the House and Senate reports have standing so the language in House Report 119 271 and Senate Report 119-55 carry the same weight unless specifically addressed to the contrary.

Other provisions and funding levels important to the osteopathic community include:

• A four-year extension for THCGME with $225-$300 million per FY, an increase from $175 million per year and three more years of certainty
• $47.2 billion for the NIH, $400 million above FY25 enacted
• $3.7 billion for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Program Management), level funding
• $65 million for Medical Student Education, $5 million above FY25 enacted
• House and Senate directed agencies to expedite responses to Questions for the Record and congressional reports

To learn more about other programs of importance to the osteopathic community, please review AACOM’s analysis of the LHHSE bill.

Act Now!

Applications are now open for the 2026-2027 Osteopathic Health Policy Internship (OHPI) Program, where selected osteopathic medical students will spend eight consecutive weeks working virtually with AACOM's Government Relations and Health Affairs department. The OHPI Program is open to current second- and third-year osteopathic medical students (OMS II and III) who will be on their clinical rotations during the 2026-2027 academic year. First-year students and students entering the Match this year are not eligible for the internship. Learn more and apply by 11:59 PM on February 20, 2026.

Apply Today

• On January 7, 2026, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 that represent a notable shift in federal nutrition policy.
• The guidelines were pre-released during an embargoed stakeholder briefing by the USDA and HHS, attended by AACOM and other stakeholders, and were made public soon after.
• To accompany the guidelines, the administration also released a fact sheet and launched a new website, Real Food Starts Here, that emphasizes high-quality whole foods over highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates.
• This move follows a push by HHS and ED to bolster nutrition education in U.S. medical school curricula, including through a September 2025 initiative directing U.S. medical education organizations to submit written plans detailing their nutrition education commitments.

• On January 15, 2026, President Trump called on Congress to enact the “Great Healthcare Plan,” which focuses on lowering drug costs, increasing healthcare cost and health insurance transparency and lowering premium costs.
• The proposal includes “Most-Favored-Nation" drug pricing to lower costs, along with an effort to increase over-the-counter availability of “safe pharmaceutical drugs.” It also introduces “Plain English” insurance standards requiring companies to clearly publish overhead costs, wait times and profits and proposes sending insurance subsidies directly to qualified Americans, reportedly reducing Affordable Care Act premiums by 10 percent.
• To increase cost transparency, providers who take Medicare and Medicaid payments would be required to clearly post pricing and fees, while insurers would be required to publish charges for services rendered in advance.
• This proposal has not been formally introduced in Congress and will require passage by both chambers.

• ED announced a new Accreditation, Innovation and Modernization (AIM) negotiated rulemaking to revise federal accreditation regulations in line with Executive Order 14279, to advance President Trump’s higher education reform agenda.
• The rulemaking will focus on modernizing accreditation by simplifying recognition of accreditors, addressing cost and credential inflation, preventing undue influence, eliminating discriminatory standards and refocusing quality assurance on data-driven student outcomes.
• The Department is accepting nominations for negotiators through February 27, 2026, with the AIM committee slated to meet for two five-day sessions in April and May.