BY Rossanna J. Madrigal, JD, MPH and Michael Alexander, Esq., Brown & Fortunato
There have been several recent events impacting healthcare state-wide. Here, we explore two of those events and their potential impact on providers, hospitals, and patients going into the last quarter of 2026 and beyond.
Texas’ Announced Delay in Maternal Mortality Data
At the beginning of September, the Texas Department of State Health Services (“DSHS”) announced that it would delay the release of the biennial maternal mortality and morbidity report (the “Report”). The Report includes analysis and data on pregnancy-related mortality rates, including a discussion on contributing factors to preventable pregnancy-related deaths. The Report has historically been released on or around September 1 every other year. The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (the “Committee”) meets quarterly and is charged with collecting and reviewing the data for the Report. The Committee’s meeting minutes from its December 2025 meeting acknowledged the Report and its September 1, 2026, publication date. Meeting minutes from the March, June, and September 2026 meetings are not yet publicly available. The delay was facilitated by a law passed in 2024 by the Texas legislature that changed the deadline for certain reports published by DSHS from September 1 to December 1.
The Report’s official publication date has not been publicized, but healthcare providers and lawmakers are already urging for the release of the Report and arguing that a significant delay can have broad implications in Texas. Specifically, healthcare providers utilize the Report to assess and improve quality initiatives, make and implement recommendations to improve health care services, and create and trial policies to positively impact morbidity and reduce mortality rates in pregnant women. Providers worry that their inability to review this data until the end of the year will delay implementation of protocols and practices that are intended to improve health outcomes and mitigate risks for pregnant women.
Previous Reports published by the Committee indicated a troubling increase in pregnancy-related deaths from 2018-2020. The 2024 Report showed that, excluding COVID-related deaths, maternal mortality rates jumped from 17 deaths per 100,000 live births to 24.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 2024 Report also showed that 80% of pregnancy related deaths reviewed for the Report were preventable. Notably, the 2024 Report did not include a detailed analysis of maternal mortality and morbidity data for 2022 or 2023. The December 2025 Committee meeting minutes disclosed that the 2026 report would include mortality data through 2024, which providers and policy makers hope will provide insights on the impact of the abortion ban that was implemented in 2022. Healthcare providers and policy makers are eager to review the 2026 Report to see if these trends have continued and what impacts, if any, the recent laws have had on maternal mortality rates and morbidity.
Medicaid Cuts, Reprieve, Moving Forward
Cuts to Medicaid funding are not new. Healthcare providers that rely on insurance reimbursements are familiar with the impact that funding cuts from state and federal health care programs can have. In late 2025, the federal government began discussions to potentially cut Texas Medicaid funding by billions of dollars as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. On September 1, 2026, the administration began withholding $9.8 billion in Texas Medicaid funding for certain programs, including the Comprehensive Hospital Increase Reimbursement Program (“CHIRP”). CHIRP is a state/federal match program whose funds are used to fill the gap between what a hospital spends to service Medicaid beneficiaries and how much reimbursement it actually receives from the program. The Texas Hospital Association reported that Texas hospitals stood to lose $27 million per day in additional Medicaid funding as a result of the withholding.
The funding withhold stems from a back and forth between the state and federal government regarding how Texas hospitals are taxed. The state and feds have gone back and forth for the better part of one year to clarify how Texas hospitals are taxed and where the funds are spent. In August, Gov. Abbott penned a letter to Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., regarding the (at that time) funding delay, demanding release of the funds that help the most at risk Texans. On September 17, 2026, the state announced that CMS would release approximately $12 billion in Medicaid funding. The announcement came as a relief to the Texas Hospital Association and the hundreds of Texas hospitals that rely on those funds. As of the publication of this article, there were no state publications available addressing how the funds would be allocated or where the money would be spent.