Rural Health Care Access Act of 2019

Rural Health Care Access Act of 2019

This bill eliminates certain criteria that hospitals must meet in order to qualify as critical access hospitals that receive special payment under Medicare.

Specifically, the bill eliminates the requirement that a hospital must either (1) be located more than 35 miles (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.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2990 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2990

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to permit States to 
 designate without any mileage limitations facilities that are located 
  in rural areas as critical access hospitals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 23, 2019

 Mr. Green of Tennessee (for himself and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) 
 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 permit States to 
 designate without any mileage limitations facilities that are located 
  in rural areas as critical access hospitals, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Rural Health Care Access Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. MEDICARE RURAL HOSPITAL FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 1820 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395i-4) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(2)(B)(i)--
                    (A) by striking ``, and that--'' and inserting a 
                semicolon; and
                    (B) by striking subclauses (I) and (II); and
            (2) in subsection (h)(3), by inserting ``made before the 
        date of the enactment of the Rural Health Care Access Act of 
        2019'' after ``any redesignation''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a)(1) shall 
apply with respect to any designation or redesignation made on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>