Official Summaries

Supporting Access to Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025

This bill temporarily allows additional hospitals to qualify as critical access hospitals (CAHs) that receive special payment under Medicare.

Currently, in order to qualify as a CAH under Medicare, a hospital must either (1) be located more than 35 miles (or 15 miles in mountainous regions or areas with only secondary roads) from another hospital, or (2) have been certified prior to January 1, 2006, by the state as a necessary provider of services in the area. Hospitals also must meet certain size and service requirements, including having no more than 25 acute care inpatient beds.

The bill allows, for one year, hospitals that are participating in the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program to also qualify as CAHs. (The program tests the feasibility of cost-based reimbursement for small rural hospitals that are too large to qualify as CAHs.)

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1191 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1191

   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive certain 
 distance requirements for certain hospitals electing to be designated 
                     as critical access hospitals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 2025

   Mr. Flood (for himself and Mr. Smith of Nebraska) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive certain 
 distance requirements for certain hospitals electing to be designated 
                     as critical access hospitals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Supporting Access to Rural Community 
Hospitals Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. WAIVING CERTAIN DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN HOSPITALS 
              ELECTING TO BE DESIGNATED AS CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1820(c)(2)(B)(i) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-4(c)(2)(B)(i)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (I), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subclause (II), by adding ``or'' at the end; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subclause:
                                    ``(III) with respect to 
                                designations occurring during the 1-
                                year period beginning on the date that 
                                is 6 months after the date of the 
                                enactment of this subclause, is a rural 
                                community hospital (as defined in 
                                subsection (f) of section 410A of the 
                                Medicare Prescription Drug, 
                                Improvement, and Modernization Act of 
                                2003) that was participating in the 
                                demonstration program established under 
                                such section as of such date of 
                                enactment.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 410A(f)(1)(A)(iv) of the 
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 
(42 U.S.C. 1395ww note) is amended by striking ``is not'' and all that 
follows through the period and inserting ``is not a critical access 
hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the Social Security 
Act).''.
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