State Health Policy Organizations Shaping Healthcare Model Legislation in 2026

Healthcare policy groups are crucial in serving as a platform for state policymakers to collaborate and share ideas with counterparts in other states, often acting as a catalyst for emerging trends to be shaped and disseminated. Such spaces also provide meaningful opportunities for industry engagement before a policy proposal becomes a "trend" across states.

Leading Healthcare Policy Organizations Shaping State Legislation

Here are the leading health care organizations shaping policy across the country.

Federation of Associations of Regulatory Boards (FARB)

• Purpose: The Federation of Associations of Regulatory Boards (FARB) is a not-for-profit corporation formed to "provide a forum for information exchange for associations of regulatory boards and their affiliate stakeholders with interests in professional regulation." Uniquely, FARB started as an association dedicated to national associations of healthcare licensing boards.
• Membership: Governing membership is restricted to associations of regulatory boards, but involvement is not limited to regulators. Supporting members may be businesses and entities or individuals that support the work of the professional regulatory community.
• Current/Past Projects: FARB has created Model Documents to assist regulatory boards address antitrust issues, uniform model practice, and model consent agreements. These documents are available to members.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

• Purpose: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) provides expertise, data, and analysis for insurance commissioners and their staff to regulate the insurance industry. It is governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories to coordinate regulation of multistate insurers.
• Membership: Membership is limited to state Insurance Commissioners. Sponsorship of conferences or meetings is not allowed. Attendance at conferences or meetings is not restricted to members, though some sessions are Commissioners only.
• Current/Past Projects: NAIC has created model legislation and regulations on issues across the insurance coverage continuum, including healthcare, accident and life insurance, long-term insurance, and unfair trade practices. In order to draft model legislation, an issue must meet a two-step test: 1) The subject matter of the model law or regulation must call for a minimum national standard or require uniformity among the states, and 2) the NAIC must dedicate significant state insurance regulator and NAIC staff resources to educating, communicating and supporting the adoption of the model law or regulation. If a policy fails to meet one of the two criteria, the NAIC committee may choose to draft a guideline instead.

National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL)

• Purpose: The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) is a legislative organization composed principally of legislators serving on state insurance and financial institutions committees around the nation. NCOIL writes Model Laws in insurance and ancillary related issues, works to both preserve the state jurisdiction over insurance as established by the McCarran-Ferguson Act and to serve as an educational forum for public policy makers and interested parties.
• Members: In addition to legislative members, NCOIL has a Corporate and Institutional Partnership Program which allows for enhanced planning participation for NCOIL's agenda and additional opportunities to engage with legislators and staff, among other benefits.
• Current/Past Projects: NCOIL has produced a number of model acts in recent years. It most recently adopted the Prior Authorization Reform Model Act in November of 2025, is currently drafting a model act on charity care and medical debt reform, and is expected to introduce model legislation related to vision care reform and 340B at its Spring meeting.

National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD)

• Purpose: The National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) is a nonpartisan association of all 56 Medicaid programs across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. NAMD is led by a Board of Directors that currently includes Medicaid Directors from the states of Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Members: Membership is restricted to Medicaid directors and senior staff. Sponsorships of the conference are welcome at many levels and attendance is not restricted to members or sponsors.
• Current/Past Projects: NAMD provides Toolkits and Fact Sheets on Medicaid administration, programs, and policies. It also provides official comments on CMS rulemaking that often speak to state considerations regarding implementation of federal law, state autonomy and authority, and other state-specific regulatory perspectives. Importantly, they are known as a facilitator for sharing best policy and operational practices across all state Medicaid agencies.

National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP)

• Purpose: The National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP) is a nonprofit organization, predominantly funded by grants, that supports state leaders by providing technical assistance, publishing and disseminating research and analyses, sharing best practices, and bringing new health policy ideas across executive and legislative branches of state government.
• Members: NASHP's work is guided by the Academy's executive committee and four steering committees. The committee membership is mainly state health policy administrators. However, NASHP has engaged in strategic partnerships with business leaders, which can facilitate and encourage greater understanding between the private and public sectors to identify opportunities for sustainable, innovative, cross-sector solutions.
• Current/Past Projects: NASHP maintains the Center on Drug Pricing that provides model legislation on Reference Pricing, Transparency, PBM Reform, and Prescription Drug Affordability Boards. The Center on Drug Pricing also maintains a legislative tracker and state strategy for implementation. The Center for Health System Costs contains model legislation on site neutral payment, hospital finance transparency, and facility fees. NASHP also serves as the home of the association of state-based marketplaces directors, and as the principal facilitator for Prescription Drug Affordability Boards and Secretaries or Directors of state Departments of Health or similar agencies.

Recent Model Legislation Trends and Policy Developments

MultiState has closely monitored and engaged on healthcare model policy discussions across numerous stakeholder organizations over the past year, including the groups mentioned above and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and The Council of State Governments (CSG).

Site Neutral Payment and Facility Fee Reform

Throughout 2025, a number of national policymaker organizations passed resolutions and model policies that reflect growing national interest. For example, an emerging issue on facility fees and site-neutral payment policies has prompted several model frameworks. In April 2025, the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) adopted the Improving Affordability for Patients Model Act, which would prohibit certain facility fees and establish transparency and reporting requirements, and ALEC then finalized similar model legislation through its Site Neutral Payment Act this past August. The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) also added a site-neutral payment model in 2025, building on previous efforts, including a facility fee model policy from 2020. Such activity by stakeholder groups indicates growing momentum for legislative activity on the issue.

340B Program Oversight and Prior Authorization Reform

Last year, ALEC also adopted a model 340B Transparency and Accountability Act, which requires 340B covered entities to adhere to annual reporting requirements, and NCOIL is expected to consider a similar model in 2026. The action by both groups reflects growing state interest in oversight of the federal 340B program. Similarly, following legislative trends, stakeholder groups have also shown interest in prior authorization reform, with CSG, including legislation to establish clear timelines and transparency standards for prior authorization in its Shared State Legislation database, and NCOIL adopted the Prior Authorization Reform Model Act last year. Collectively, these initiatives demonstrate how stakeholder groups are shaping and responding to healthcare policy priorities.

What to Expect in 2026

Looking ahead to this year, a multitude of stakeholder groups are focused on the Rural Health Transformation Program. MultiState is playing a proactive role with some groups to help devise what programming content may look like and who should participate in the discussion. This is driven by MultiState's ongoing work with clients, legislators and state agency officials to help navigate understanding of and opportunities within the program.

Upcoming Health Policy Group Meetings

To help you keep track of all of the upcoming Health Policy Group meetings, MultiState recently launched a new calendar tracking these meetings.

Track Health Care Policy

The ever-evolving state health policy landscape will continue to influence how health care organizations make business decisions. MultiState's team pulls from decades of expertise to help you effectively navigate and engage. MultiState's team understands the issues, knows the key players and organizations, and we harness that expertise to help our clients effectively navigate and engage on their policy priorities. We offer customized strategic solutions to help you develop and execute a proactive multistate agenda focused on your company's goals. Learn more about our Health Care Policy Practice.