Rural Emergency Hospital Designation Improvement Act

This bill changes Medicare and Medicaid rules for rural emergency hospitals. It lets more facilities qualify to convert to a rural emergency hospital, including facilities that operated as eligible hospitals at any point since January 1, 2015, and directs federal health officials to write rules waiving some requirements for facilities that operate similarly. It allows these hospitals to keep psychiatric, rehabilitation, and obstetric units and to offer skilled nursing care through swing-bed agreements. It raises Medicare payments for certain lab tests at these hospitals by 5 percent starting in 2027. It also adds these hospitals to Medicaid coverage, a federal grant program, and National Health Service Corps site eligibility, and lets hospitals that switch back to critical access status regain necessary provider status.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Jill N. Tokuda Democrat sponsor
• 7 cosponsors