Government Updates

The federal government will shut down beginning October 1 if an annual budget resolution is not reached. While this can sound concerning, the overall impact to our Health Sciences community—across clinical care, research, and education—is expected to be minimal.

As an Academic Health System, our focus remains on providing uninterrupted care, education, and research, while reassuring patients and employees that the essential programs we rely on should continue uninterrupted. In fact, the most significant impacts of a shutdown are expected to come in the form of administrative delays or slower response times from federal agencies, rather than disruptions to patient care or operations.

The federal government will shut down beginning October 1 if an annual budget resolution is not reached. While this can sound concerning, the overall impact to our Health Sciences community—across clinical care, research, and education—is expected to be minimal.

As an Academic Health System, our focus remains on providing uninterrupted care, education, and research, while reassuring patients and employees that the essential programs we rely on should continue uninterrupted. In fact, the most significant impacts of a shutdown are expected to come in the form of administrative delays or slower response times from federal agencies, rather than disruptions to patient care or operations.

AREAS OF MOST CONCERN (AND WHY WE’RE CONFIDENT)

Medicare and Medicaid

• With the exception of Medicare coverage and payments for telehealth services, Medicare and Medicaid coverage and payments should continue with little interruption. These programs are considered mandatory programs, which means payments to hospitals, providers, and clinics are expected to continue during a potential shutdown.
• Medicaid is largely administered at the state level, so day-to-day operations, applications, claims, and payments should continue to run smoothly.
• The most likely impact could be longer processing times for claims or slower responses from federal offices, not interruptions in patient access or a halt in payments.

Telemedicine

• Telemedicine services should remain covered and paid for in most situations. However, for Medicare patients, the waivers that allow for most of these services to be covered and paid for will expire on September 30 unless an extension is granted. For more information, please visit the Telehealth section on Medicare.gov, or call 1-800-Medicare.
• Providers should continue receiving reimbursement for virtual visits, and patients should be able to keep scheduled appointments. For Medicare patients, if a virtual visit is scheduled on October 1 or later, they must seek care in person or in a medical facility located in a rural area. For more information, visit the Telehealth section on Medicare.gov, or call 1-800-Medicare.

Hospital-at-Home

• Hospital-at-home programs should remain supported in most situations. However, for Medicare patients, the waivers that allow for these services to be covered and paid for will expire on September 30 unless an extension is granted. For more information please visit the Acute Visit Care at Home section on CMS.gov, or call 1-800-Medicare.

340B Program

• No impact is expected to the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
  
• The program is primarily administered between the University and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and HRSA (the federal oversight agency) is anticipated to continue operating during a potential shutdown.
• The biggest risk would be slower administrative turnaround, not a disruption to discounts or access.

KEY POINTS FOR PATIENTS

• Your care comes first. Hospitals, clinics, and care teams will remain open and available.
• Medicare and Medicaid coverage should continue. Patients can continue to use benefits, and providers are expected to be paid. However, for Medicare patients, the waivers that allow for Telehealth or Hospital at Home services to be covered expires on September 30. For specific information regarding Telehealth services, visit the Telehealth section on Medicare.gov. For Hospital at Home services, visit the Acute Visit Home Care at Home section on CMS.gov. Patients can also call 1-800-Medicare for additional information.

BROADER IMPACTS

Research

• Federally funded projects already in place should continue during a potential shutdown.
• The largest impact, if any, is likely administrative—with potential delays in new grant approvals, renewals, or agency communications.
• For specific information detailing potential impacts to the research community during a possible shutdown, please refer to the information provided by the Office of Sponsored Projects.

Education

• Classes, training, and clinical education should continue without disruption.
  
• Federal financial aid programs are expected to continue, though some back-end processing or agency support could take longer than usual.
• There are special considerations for graduate students who are working on federally funded research projects for course credit. To learn more, please refer to the information provided by the Office of Sponsored Projects.

University of Utah Health will not provide specific information about Medicaid patients to U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

As of April 28, 21 international students at the University of Utah have had their visas reinstated.

Four students have already left the country and will need to reapply at their local consulates and embassies for new visas.

Early in April, university staff in International Student and Scholar Services discovered successive numbers of international students with terminated SEVIS records and visa revocations. A total of 22 graduate and undergraduate students, as well as some graduates, had their visas revoked and their SEVIS records terminated. The stated reasons include “failure to maintain nonimmigrant status” and/or criminal record check.”

Approximately half of the students are from China; the other half are from several countries, including India and the Middle East.

• A SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) record is a digital record maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that tracks and monitors the status of non-immigrant students (F and M visa) and exchange visitors (J visa) in the United States.
• The University of Utah has 3,733F visa holders and 371 J visa holders. This includes OPT and STEM OPT—work programs for recent graduates.

For comparison, during the 2023-24 academic year, 167 students’ SEVIS records were cancelled—about a third of those (50) were for students’ authorized early withdrawals.

For more information, please visit this page.

The University of Utah does not ask our students to disclose their immigration status (other than international students who come on visas) and the University does not track a student’s immigration status. We believe that a small percentage of our students may be undocumented, including some who are protected from deportation and granted work authorization under DACA—Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. At this time, those with DACA status prior to 2021 can continue to benefit from the program and apply to renew their DACA status.

At least 408,000 undocumented students are enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. About a third of them have DACA status or are eligible for DACA—an estimated 141,000 people as of 2021, according to a 2023 report from the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and the American Immigration Council.

For Know Your Rights resources, undocumented U community members can check websites for the National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Immigration Legal Resource Center.

University leaders urge all students to reach out to the many offices across campus which provide support to students for mental health and well-being.

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) also provides academic advising, guidance about immigration and student visas, opportunities for engagement and student experiences, and case management.

Students and scholars may reach out to ISSS to discuss visas and international travel, by emailing international@utah.edu or calling 801-581-8876. Residents and fellows may reach out to Graduate Medical Education, by emailing gme@hsc.utah.edu, or calling 801-581-2401. Supervisors or managers can reach out to the Office of General Counsel or OGC, by emailing brian.christiansen@legal.utah.edu, or calling 801-585-7002.

Undocumented members of the University of Utah community should not avoid speaking to police. The University of Utah Police continue to be a resource to every member of the campus community. Undocumented members of the community are encouraged to continue reporting incidents of potential hate crimes, interpersonal violence, theft and other crimes to the University of Utah Police.

UUPD will not report an undocumented victim of a crime to federal authorities for immigration enforcement.

The University of Utah is governed by federal laws which preserve the privacy of all members of the campus community, as well as visitors.

U of U Health is committed to protecting patient privacy, and that of employees and students in hospitals and clinics. Patient information remains protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Send questions to askadmin@hsc.utah.edu.

Consistent with the law, Student Affairs, the Registrar’s Office and Enrollment Management also will protect students’ privacy, regardless of their immigration status or the status of their family members. Student information remains protected under FERPA.

The new administration has pledged to stringently enforce existing law and deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants, and the Department of Homeland Security has revoked its “sensitive locations” protocol, which had meant that immigration authorities were not prioritizing college and university campuses or hospitals for immigration enforcement.

However, Homeland Security has not yet issued new protocols, and, to date, nothing has changed in the law regarding enforcement of federal immigration on a university campus. At this time, there is no indication that universities will receive greater attention from Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement efforts. To the extent that immigration officers interact with the university, we will expect them to comply with the same standards as any other external law enforcement agency (e.g., to present warrants, subpoenas or other court orders).

Please note that University of Utah Police do not ask individuals about immigration status, will not detain a person solely on the belief they are in the country illegally and will not detain or make arrests solely pursuant to an ICE detainer. Utah Police do not have any agreements with ICE and do not expect to be called upon to enforce immigration law.

If and when changes are made that will impact our campus, we will keep you informed.

Federal law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, operates on campus like other local, state and federal law enforcement when exercising a search or arrest warrant.

If federal officers seek to arrest an undocumented person in a public space of the university (outside, in a café, in the lobby of a building), they have the authority to do that and our goal should be to help keep things calm as the arrest is made.

However, if ICE officers seek to arrest someone in a non-public space of the university (a patient area/room, a student housing unit, a classroom, an employee’s office), ICE would have no federal or state authority to enter those spaces without a judicial warrant (an administrative warrant is not sufficient) and the university would have no legal obligation to facilitate such an arrest (e.g., by providing the location of an individual, by allowing entry into a private space, etc.).

In fact, HIPAA and FERPA would prohibit the university from providing information that would facilitate such an arrest of a patient or a student by, for example, identifying the location of a patient/student. Complying/enforcing these other federal laws would certainly not be considered obstruction/interference with an ICE arrest.

However, individual students, staff and faculty would run the risk of being charged with interfering with law enforcement if they intervene while officers make an arrest.

Guidance from the Office of Faculty

If students ask where they can go for support, refer them to the appropriate campus offices:

• Undocumented students, with or without Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), can contact the Office of the Dean of Students for well-being and academic support.
• International students can reach out to International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) to discuss visas and international travel. Email international@utah.edu or call 801-581-8876.

University leaders urge every member of the campus community to reach out to the many offices providing support for mental health and well-being, including those dedicated to serving faculty and staff and those for students.

On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to administrators at colleges and universities around the country, including the University of Utah.

The “Dear Colleague” letter from Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, addresses the use of race in education and explains the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

On Feb. 28, the Department of Education posted additional guidance in the form of a FAQ. That documents is posted here.

This bill creates the One Utah Service Fellowship program, which will provide a living stipend and tuition award to Utah high school graduates who participate in an approved year-long service opportunity. Students will also receive apprenticeship opportunities, certification, and guidance on education. The legislature appropriated $1.3 million in ongoing funds and $2 million in one-time funds for this initiative.

“This is a wonderful opportunity not only to grow professional skills and maturity but also for students to see the community in a larger frame or larger context and then be able to apply that as they continue their careers,” said Sen. Anne Miller (R-Ogden), the sponsor of S.B. 206.

Dubbed the “Presidential Powers Act”, this bill clarifies and streamlines the responsibilities of presidents of higher education institutions in the state. It identifies which responsibilities leaders of technical colleges and degree-granting institutions share and it identifies areas that may differ. It also allows Talent Ready Utah to create talent advisory councils for talent initiatives and it amends requirements related to operations and maintenance funding requests.

You can read more about the changes here.

The so-called “Tenure Bill,” H.B. 438, requires the presidents of degree-granting institutions to make policies regarding tenure and annual post-tenure review and sets minimum requirements for those policies. Under this legislation, presidents are also required to make an annual report to the Utah Board of Education by Oct. 1 that includes information regarding post-tenure reviews from the previous year.

According to this legislation, the terms and conditions of tenured employment must be stated in writing and provide protections for academic freedom in teaching, research and an individual’s personal life. The bill also outlines the circumstances when a tenured faculty member’s employment may be terminated, including professional incompetence, serious misconduct, unethical behavior, legal misconduct related to their duties, falsified credentials, plagiarism, or an inability or unwillingness to meet institutional expectations. A full list of reasons can be found in the bill’s text.

This legislation restricts the “changing rooms” that people can use in public buildings, including on the University of Utah campus. A changing room is a space designated for multiple individuals to dress or undress in the same space, such as a dressing room, fitting room, locker room, or shower room. It does not include a restroom unless the restroom is within or attached to a changing room.

While the prohibitions went into effect with Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature on Jan. 30, 2024 the enforcement provisions did not take effect until May 1, 2024.

Though most of the law’s guidelines and restrictions apply to K-12 public schools, it will likely impact changing room use on the university’s campus. Find more information here.

You can find more on this legislation here.

This bill updates guidelines for the endorsement deals college student-athletes can sign in for the use of their “name, image and likeness,” or NIL. The legislation prohibits athletes from endorsing things like tobacco products, drugs, strip clubs, gambling, alcohol, or firearms “that the student-athlete cannot legally purchase.”

Agreements for over $600 in value must be reviewed by the athlete’s school to ensure they align with this legislation and the institution’s guidelines. Schools may not use appropriated funds for purposes related to student-athlete agreements. These agreements and materials related to agreements are exempt from Utah’s Open Records Act.

During the 2024 General Legislature, lawmakers adopted HB 261, “Equal Opportunity Initiatives,” prohibiting state higher education institutions from relying on certain individual characteristics in decisions regarding aspects of employment or education.

The law, which Gov. Spencer Cox signed on Jan. 30, 2024 eliminates central offices dedicated to equity, diversity and inclusion, and prohibits policies, procedures, practices, programs or initiatives that are referred to as diversity, equity and inclusion. The law prohibits the use of diversity statements or commitments in hiring or admission processes and requires that dedicated resource centers serve all students.

You can read more about this legislation here.

After S.B. 226: School of General Education Act failed in committee during the 2024 legislative session, the bill’s sponsor Rep. John Johnson, R- North Ogden, worked with leaders at Utah State University to draft S.B. 334. Passed during the 2025 legislative session, this bill will create a Center for Civic Excellence at USU, which will overhaul general education courses at the institution to focus Western civilization and the rise of Christianity. It is anticipated the curriculum instituted at USU will act as a pilot program for the state.

H.B. 77 implements new guidelines for flags displayed by any “unit of state government,” which includes the University of Utah.

Under the new law, flags for the United States, other countries, state governments and their subdivisions, the university, the Olympic Winter Games, Native American tribes and veteran or POW recognitions are allowed. Other types of flags are generally prohibited from being posted in a prominent location, including Pride flags, Juneteenth flags and government flags with altered colors and symbols.

Students, faculty and staff may wear or carry a flag as a personal expression of free speech or support for a group or historical event. University employees may also use flags as personal decorations in their offices so long as they are not easily visible outside of their personal space.

Flags may also be used as decorations in connection with a brief cultural celebration hosted by the university within a university building. Learn more about the guidelines here.

You also can read more about the impacts on campus activities here.

This bill establishes a pilot project allowing the higher education institutions to manage and develop their own real estate assets. Subject to approval by governing bodies, under this bill the U will be allowed to generate additional revenue through developing and improving campus infrastructure without relying solely on state funding.

As a part of the state budget bill, the University of Utah School of Dentistry is directed to expand care to pregnant individuals and pediatric patients. In response to both industry and state leaders’ requests, the school will now provide high-quality dental services to all Medicaid patients. This expansion is projected to save the state approximately $20 million annually and allow students at our dental school the opportunity to provide excellent care to more patients.

This bill allows Utah student-athletes to receive direct Name, Image, or Likeness (NIL) compensation without losing eligibility and provides financial oversight, preventing tuition and state funds from covering NIL payments. It also mandates policies against abusive coaching, ensuring a safer environment.

H.B. 269 outlines new requirements for students living in residential housing on campus. Students who apply for U housing will be asked to select either a “male” “female” or “gender inclusive housing” room when they apply. Per H.B. 269, if a student selects “male” or “female” this should align with the students’ sex at birth.

To ensure that all U students can live on campus, have a successful student experience, and enjoy all the amenities, benefits and experiences available to residential students, gender-inclusive housing is available to any student who feels this environment is right for them. Gender-inclusive housing options are available for students who are either unable or do not feel comfortable selecting a “male” or “female” room.

Gender-inclusive housing rooms are offered in every residential building (with the exception of Gateway Heights), and across every room type in order to give students maximum availability and flexibility when selecting their rooms.

One of the bills with the most immediate impact on colleges and universities is H.B. 265, which will require a collective cut of $60.5 million from the base budgets of the state’s eight public institutions.

You can read more about the appropriations bill and how it will impact the U here.

U of U Health is committed to protecting patient privacy, and that of employees and students in hospitals and clinics. Patient information remains protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Send questions to askadmin@hsc.utah.edu.

Our health care facilities are places of healing, support, and compassion. We are committed to a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.

University of Utah Health follows all state and federal laws. Information shared during medical treatment is protected by federal law. We do not share patient information, including immigration status, with law enforcement unless required by law.

Important points for our patients:

• Information shared during medical treatment is protected by federal law. We do not discriminate based on race, origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or immigration status.
• It is important for everyone to get medical care when needed. We encourage all patients to seek care promptly.
• We support law enforcement and follow all privacy laws.