New US Government Funding Favors Several Surgeon-Focused Initiatives

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, which was signed into law on February 3, includes funding for key health programs, including several that ACS has strongly supported. Five of the funding bills included in the package are identical to what was previously passed by the House of Representatives late last month.

In particular, the package included:

• Increased funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program ($67 million increase over 2025), military-civilian trauma training partnerships within the Department of Defense ($4 million increase), National Institutes of Health ($415 million increase), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ($1.7 billion increase), and National Cancer Institute ($128 million increase)
• Continued funding for the Mission Zero military-civilian trauma grants program, firearm injury prevention, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and the CDC Injury Center
• Extension of the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act through 2030 and COVID-era Medicare telehealth flexibilities through 2027
• Rejection of the 15% cap on indirect research costs and lump-sum funding for multiyear NIH research grants 

Although Congress has yet to advance reauthorization legislation for the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), many of the programs included in PAHPA, such as Mission Zero and the Hospital Preparedness Program mentioned above, were funded as part of this package. The ACS continues to advocate for full PAHPA reauthorization, as well as on ways to stop the -2.5% “efficiency adjustment” in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

Additionally, the House passed fiscal year 2026 funding for the State Department and other national security programs. The bill includes language requiring the State Department to report back to Congress on its planned use of funds for the purposes of strengthening global surgical programs