Rural Emergency Hospital Designation Improvement Act

This bill changes Medicare and Medicaid rules for rural emergency hospitals, a type of facility that provides emergency and outpatient care without regular inpatient beds. It expands which facilities can convert to this status, including facilities that qualified at any point from January 1, 2015 onward, and directs federal health officials to waive some requirements for facilities that operate in a similar way. It would let these hospitals keep psychiatric, rehabilitation, and obstetric units, offer skilled nursing services through swing-bed agreements, and receive 5 percent more Medicare payment for lab tests starting in 2027. It also makes these hospitals eligible for National Health Service Corps placement and small rural hospital grants, adds their services to Medicaid, and lets hospitals that switch back to critical access status regain necessary provider status.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Jerry Moran Republican sponsor
• 7 cosponsors