LeadingAge joined a coalition letter to HUD requesting immediate release of the agency’s OCAFs for 2026. Now, the agency has preliminarily posted the OCAFs to be officially published on Feb. 3^rd.

A partial government shutdown began on Jan. 30^th, but is expected to be short, as a Senate-passed bill including funding for HUD returns to the House for a vote.

Updates include new recommendations for State Survey Agencies to consider the prevalence of falls when selecting a nursing home from the SFF candidate list and clarification that standard health inspections will be completed in SFFs at least once every six months (no less than twice annually), while Life Safety Code and Emergency Preparedness surveys will be conducted at least annually. In addition, selection for the SFF candidate list will now be based on the past two standard health inspections rather than the past three standard surveys.

Telehealth flexibilities and Hospital-at-Home provisions are extended.

The GRRP funds critical preservation projects for affordable housing communities located in climate-vulnerable areas, but parts of the program have been on hold since 2025 due to a change in administration priorities.

CMS has released updates to the State Operations Manual that impact complaint procedures and nursing home survey and enforcement processes. The updates are said to be consistent with existing policies previously released through QSO memos and represent no new changes to current policies.