Several health care laws approved during the 2026 legislative session took effect July 1, bringing changes for physicians, hospitals, insurers, pharmacies and health care facilities across Indiana. The measures address Medicaid, insurance claims, patient consent, medical debt, workplace safety and rural health, among other issues.
 
SEA 1 will have the most impact.  It creates the Indiana Rural Health Transformation Fund to administer federal rural health funding through 2032 while implementing broader reforms to Medicaid eligibility, the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) and public assistance programs. Although some provisions take effect later this year or in 2027, many of the bill's core provisions became effective July 1.
 
HEA 1271 establishes new protections for physicians during the claims process. The law prohibits insurers from using artificial intelligence (AI) as the sole basis for downcoding claims without human review, requires greater transparency when AI is used in prior authorization or downcoding decisions, sets new appeal requirements, limits retrospective audits and recoupments, and expands hospital financial assistance notification requirements. 

SEA 90 requires informed consent before pelvic, prostate or rectal examinations are performed on anesthetized or unconscious patients, except in limited circumstances. Consent forms must disclose the purpose of the examination, identify who will perform it, indicate whether a student will participate and provide patients the opportunity to decline. 

Other new laws that took effect July 1 include:

• SEA 225, which requires advance notice before hospitals close or eliminate service lines, strengthens oversight of hospital medical debt collection practices and modifies ambulatory surgical center requirements.
• SEA 282, which establishes new standards for compounded drugs and begins regulation of medical spas, including statewide registration beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
• HEA 1277, which restructures portions of Indiana's Medicaid long-term care system, including new assisted living waiver provisions and integrated care coordination for eligible beneficiaries.
• HEA 1249, which increases criminal penalties for battery against health care workers and requires employers to report workplace battery incidents to the Indiana Department of Labor twice each year.
• HEA 1358, which expands access to smoking cessation products, updates home health aide training requirements, broadens epinephrine dispensing authority and requires Indiana medical schools to include nutrition education and rural health rotations in their curricula.

Additional legislation affecting home health, behavioral health, first responders and Family and Social Services Administration programs also became effective July 1 through SEA 180 and SEA 222. Several health-related measures enacted this session, including legislation on nonparticipating providers and syringe exchange programs, became effective earlier under emergency declarations.