Contact

The National Health Authority network spans 24 member reference sites covering the full spectrum of regulated health and care services in the United States. This page identifies the scope of inquiries handled at the network level, describes what information to include when reaching out, and sets accurate expectations for general timeframes. Because the network operates under strict editorial and regulatory standards — including those established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) under HIPAA, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) — correspondence is routed according to subject matter and site jurisdiction.

Service area covered

The National Health Authority hub coordinates reference coverage across 24 member sites organized by care type, patient population, and regulatory environment. Each member site operates as an independent reference property within a defined topical boundary. Inquiries reaching this hub are assessed against those boundaries before any routing determination is made.

The network's geographic scope is national — all 50 US states — but individual member sites may address state-specific regulatory frameworks where relevant, such as state Medicaid waiver programs governed under 42 CFR Part 441 or state-licensed facility standards enforced by agencies including state Departments of Health and the CMS Survey and Certification division.

The 24 member sites and their respective subject domains include:

• Assisted Living Authority covers licensure standards, resident rights frameworks, and staffing requirements for assisted living facilities regulated at the state level, with reference to CMS conditions of participation where applicable.
• Biohazard Authority addresses regulated medical waste classification, handling protocols, and disposal standards under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030).
• Chiropractic Authority documents scope-of-practice boundaries, licensure requirements, and billing classification for chiropractic services under CPT coding frameworks and state board regulations.
• Dispensary Authority covers state-licensed cannabis dispensary compliance structures, including product testing requirements, track-and-trace mandates, and state health department oversight frameworks.
• Medical Marijuana Authority provides reference on medical cannabis patient qualification criteria, physician certification processes, and the patchwork of state-level medical marijuana program rules that govern patient access.
• National Caregiver Authority addresses caregiver credentialing, training standards, and the regulatory frameworks — including those under the Older Americans Act — that govern paid and unpaid caregiving roles.
• National Care Management Authority covers care coordination models, case management credentialing through bodies such as the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC), and payer-specific care management requirements under CMS.
• National Child Care Authority documents federal and state child care licensing frameworks, including standards under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administered by the Office of Child Care within HHS.
• National Disability Authority covers rights and services frameworks under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers.
• National Drug Rehab Authority addresses substance use disorder treatment facility classification, SAMHSA certification requirements, and 42 CFR Part 2 confidentiality standards for patient records.
• National Elder Care Authority covers the regulatory landscape for older adult services including those administered under the Older Americans Act, Adult Protective Services statutes, and long-term care ombudsman programs.
• National Healthcare Authority functions as a broad reference on health system structure, facility licensure categories, and CMS Conditions of Participation governing hospitals and health systems.
• National Home Care Authority covers Medicare-certified home health agency standards under 42 CFR Part 484, OASIS assessment requirements, and state home care licensure distinctions.
• National Medical Billing Authority documents CPT, ICD-10-CM, and HCPCS coding frameworks, CMS claim submission standards, and compliance requirements under the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729).
• National Medical Services Authority covers the classification and regulatory frameworks governing ancillary, diagnostic, and specialty medical services across hospital and outpatient settings.
• National Mental Health Authority (.com) and National Mental Health Authority (.org) together cover behavioral health parity requirements under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), facility licensure standards, and clinical classification frameworks from DSM-5 and ICD-10.
• National Nursing Home Authority addresses skilled nursing facility (SNF) standards under 42 CFR Part 483, Five-Star Quality Rating System metrics published by CMS, and residents' rights under the Nursing Home Reform Act.
• National Patient Advocacy Authority covers patient advocate roles, hospital complaint processes, and the regulatory frameworks under which patient grievances are filed with The Joint Commission and state health departments.
• National Patient Rights Authority documents the statutory and regulatory foundation of patient rights, including HIPAA Privacy Rule protections (45 CFR Part 164), informed consent requirements, and advance directive frameworks under the Patient Self-Determination Act.
• National Patient Services Authority covers the classification of direct patient-facing services across clinical settings, including regulatory distinctions between Medicare Part A and Part B covered services.
• National Senior Care Authority addresses service and facility options for older adults, including distinctions between independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing under applicable CMS and state regulatory frameworks.
• National Telehealth Authority covers telehealth delivery standards, CMS reimbursement rules under 42 CFR Part 410, DEA prescribing requirements for telemedicine, and state medical practice act cross-jurisdictional issues.
• Veterinary Authority documents veterinary licensure standards, controlled substance handling requirements under DEA schedules, and state veterinary practice act frameworks governing clinical scope.

What to include in your message

Correspondence directed to the network should specify, at minimum, the following 5 elements to enable accurate routing and response:

1. Site or subject area — identify which member site or topical domain the inquiry concerns (e.g., telehealth reimbursement policy, assisted living licensure standards).
2. Nature of the inquiry — distinguish between editorial feedback, factual correction requests, content gap identification, or technical site issues. Each category follows a different internal review path.
3. Specific page or section — provide the URL or section heading where applicable. Corrections to cited regulatory text — such as CFR citations, CMS guidance references, or named statute provisions — require specific location identification.
4. Supporting source — if a factual correction is being requested, include the named public source (agency publication, Federal Register notice, statute, or published standard) that supports the proposed correction.
5. Contact information — a valid email address is required for any response to be issued. The network does not respond to anonymous general inquiries.

Inquiries that do not identify a specific site or subject area are classified as general and receive lower routing priority than subject-specific correspondence.

Response expectations

general timeframes vary by inquiry classification. The network processes correspondence across 3 defined categories:

Corrections that affect cited regulatory provisions (e.g., CFR section numbers, CMS transmittal references, OSHA standard identifiers) receive priority review.

Content gap submissions — Suggestions that a topic, regulatory framework, or member site subject area is undercovered are logged and assessed during scheduled editorial review cycles. These inquiries do not generate individual responses in all cases, but submissions that identify a documented gap against a named federal or state regulatory framework are more likely to influence content scheduling.

Technical issues — Broken links, inaccessible pages, or rendering problems are escalated to the network's technical operations team. Resolution timelines depend on issue severity; critical accessibility issues affecting compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794d) are prioritized accordingly.

The network does not provide individual regulatory guidance, clinical advice, or referrals to providers or facilities. Inquiries requesting such guidance are not answered — this boundary is established by the network's classification under AHRQ's definition of reference and information resources, which distinguishes health reference content from direct patient services.

Additional contact options

Structured reference resources are available across the network for topics that do not require direct correspondence. The member directory catalogs all 24 sites with subject summaries. The network standards and editorial criteria page documents the sourcing and accuracy standards applied across all member properties.

For regulatory context covering specific care types, the following internal pages address applicable frameworks: regulatory context for medical and health services covers the federal statutory and agency framework; safety context and risk boundaries for medical and health services documents named risk categories and applicable standards including those from The Joint Commission, OSHA, and C