In 2016, CMS issued a proposed rule to update the requirements that hospitals and critical access hospitals must meet to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The proposals are intended to conform the requirements to current standards of practice and support improvements in quality of care, reduce barriers to care, and reduce some issues that may exacerbate workforce shortage concerns. The proposed rule was scheduled to be finalized this month, but on June 6, 2019, CMS announced that it would extend the timeline for publication of the final rule for another year, to June 16, 2020. According to CMS, exceptional circumstances exist to justify publishing a final rule more than 3 years after the publication date of the proposed rule, namely “the complexity of the rule, it’s substantive nature, and the scope of comments received.” The proposed rule can be found here. CMS’s announcement to extend the rule another year can be found here.