HF4968 Summary – Minnesota, 2025-2026 Session
Purpose
- The bill makes health policy changes across all-payer claims data provisions, newborn screening, health professional loan forgiveness and residency training programs, and international medical graduates (IMG) assistance. It also updates related funding authority and appropriations through 2026-2027.
Key Provisions and Changes
1) All-Payer Claims Data (APCD) Access and Fees
- Expands access to all-payer claims data for research and transformation aims that improve health care outcomes, access, quality, disparities, or spending.
- Prohibits uses that would unfairly advantage market participants, reidentify individuals, or publicly report contract details derived from the data.
- Establishes a data-access framework:
- Detailed access requirements, data-use agreements, oversight, data-management plans, and security provisions.
- Creates a research advisory group to review applications and advise on rigor, capabilities, and safeguards.
- Requires annual public listing of approved projects on the DOH website.
- New Subdivision 14 defines:
- Data-use fees: standard data sets ($3,500 per file per year), limited-use data sets ($7,000 per file per year), and custom data sets/analyses ($89 per hour, capped at 65 hours).
- Fee waivers may be granted for financial hardship, tribal requests, academic affiliations, high-volume requests, or tribal health directors.
- Fees are nonrefundable and deposited to a special-revenue account to offset data-access costs.
- Fee schedule to be published on the DOH website.
2) Newborn Screening Program (Financial and Administrative Updates)
- Adjusts fees tied to newborn screening:
- Base newborn screening tests fee: $184.35 per specimen, deposited to state treasury for the newborn screening program.
- An additional $15 per specimen to offset support services for the program (also deposited to the general fund).
- Provides a mechanism for exemptions if insurers do not reimburse the screening costs.
3) Health Professional Education Loan Forgiveness and Training Programs
- Expands and refines use and administration of loan-forgiveness funds:
- Funds available for a broad set of health professionals (medical residents, physicians, mental health professionals, alcohol/drug counselors, midlevel practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, dental therapists, dentists) committing to practice in designated rural or underserved areas.
- Emphasizes teaching commitments, rural/underserved practice, and nursing-home or home-care settings where appropriate.
- Clarifies that funds do not cancel and are available until expended; maintains long-term sustainability via ongoing authorization.
4) Rural Residency Training and Clinical Rotations
- Changes to definitions and program specifics for rural residency training:
- Defines rural residency training programs (medical and psychology) with emphasis on at least two-thirds of training being in rural communities; allows regional/urban rotations when needed if rural share is substantial.
- Creates and funds grants for planning, development, and sustaining rural residency programs, with caps:
- Medical residency program grants: up to $250,000/year for planning/development for up to 3 years; $225,000 per resident per year thereafter.
- Psychology residency program grants: up to $150,000/year for planning/development; $150,000 per resident per year thereafter.
- Eligible sites include community-based ambulatory centers and other rural health entities.
- Provides coordination grants to the University of Minnesota for technical assistance in developing rural clinical training programs.
5) International Medical Graduates Assistance Program (IMG)
- Establishes and funds an IMG primary care residency program:
- Grants support primary care residency positions for Minnesota immigrant physicians serving in rural or underserved areas.
- Up to $150,000 per residency position per year; requires five-year rural/underserved service commitment post-residency.
- Creates and funds a revolving account to support ongoing grants, with provisions for participant agreements and repayment contributions ($15,000 or 10% of earnings, whichever is less, for five years starting in the second postresidency year).
- Private contributions to the revolving account allowed under specified conditions, with public disclosure and prohibitions on directing fund use.
Effective Dates and Appropriations
- DOH appropriations: new funding in state government special revenue for APCD administration and data access; ongoing base adjustments in subsequent years if certain conditions (e.g., HMO licensing authority) are retained.
- Several sections reference amendments to existing statutes and prior law around 2024-2025 provisions; some changes are conditionally effective.
Impact
- Broadly aims to expand access to health data for research while safeguarding privacy and market fairness.
- Strengthens newborn screening funding and affordability.
- Expands loan forgiveness and funding for rural health workforce development, including physicians, psychologists, nurses, and other health professionals.
- Encourages development of rural residency training and IMG pathways to address primary care shortages in rural/underserved Minnesota.
