H.R. 1509: Accelerating Kids’ Access to Care Act of 2025

H.R. 1509, the Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act, targets one kind of delay: the paperwork an out-of-state doctor or hospital has to finish before a child's home-state Medicaid program will pay them. Families dealing with rare or complex conditions often end up at a children's hospital in another state, and each state runs its own provider enrollment.

Under the bill, a state can ask an already-vetted out-of-state provider for only what it needs to pay them — such as a name and National Provider Identifier — instead of a full second enrollment. The federal health department can add to that list, so the final scope depends on how regulators define it.

The shortcut is narrow by design. The patient has to be under 21 and enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. The provider has to be rated limited-risk for fraud, waste, and abuse, and already screened and enrolled in Medicare or their own state's Medicaid program.

Anyone excluded from a federal or state health program, or terminated for program-integrity reasons, can't use it. A provider who does get in stays enrolled for 5 years unless they're terminated or excluded sooner.

The rules apply in all 50 states and D.C. The bill text gives states 3 years from enactment to have the process running, which means families may not see a difference right away.