Rural Hospital Stabilization Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3063 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3063

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services to make grants to assist rural hospitals, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 29, 2025

  Mr. Figures (for himself, Mr. Jack, and Ms. Sewell) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services to make grants to assist rural 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 Hospital Stabilization Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. GRANTS TO ASSIST RURAL HOSPITALS.

    The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by 
inserting after section 330A-2 (42 U.S.C. 254c-1b) the following:

``SEC. 330A-3. GRANTS TO ASSIST RURAL HOSPITALS.

    ``(a) Authority To Make Grants.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy of the Health Resources 
and Services Administration, may make grants under this section to 
rural hospitals--
            ``(1) for projects to acquire, repair, and upgrade the 
        systems, facilities, and equipment of rural hospitals; and
            ``(2) to provide financial assistance to be used toward the 
        operational costs of rural hospitals, including payroll 
        expenses (except payroll expenses associated with hospital 
        leadership positions) and debt payments.
    ``(b) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, a rural hospital shall submit to the Secretary an application, 
at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may require, including--
            ``(1) a description of the projects and expenses that will 
        receive funding under the grant;
            ``(2) a description of the manner in which the projects and 
        expenses funded under the grant will address the financial 
        needs of the hospital;
            ``(3) a description of how the projects and expenses funded 
        under the grant will help ensure that residents of rural areas 
        maintain access to hospital services;
            ``(4) a plan for sustaining projects and covering expenses 
        at the hospital after Federal support under this section has 
        ended; and
            ``(5) such other information as the Secretary determines to 
        be appropriate.
    ``(c) Maximum Aggregate Grant Amount.--A rural hospital may receive 
not more that $5,000,000, in the aggregate, in grant funds under this 
section for any five-year period.
    ``(d) Maintenance of Effort.--Funds made available under this 
section shall be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, 
State, local, and Tribal funds available for the grant purposes 
described in subsection (a).
    ``(e) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives, the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 
report on the activities and outcomes of the grant program carried out 
under this section, including the impact of projects funded under this 
section on improving the financial viability of the grant recipients 
and ensuring that residents of rural areas maintain access to hospital 
services.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Rural hospital.--The term `rural hospital' means a 
        hospital that is located at least 15 miles from the nearest 
        hospital and at least 20 miles from the nearest urbanized area 
        (as defined by the Bureau of the Census). Such term includes 
        public and private hospitals.
            ``(2) Hospital leadership position.--The term `hospital 
        leadership position' has such meaning as the Secretary may 
        prescribe by regulation.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $500,000,000, in the aggregate, 
for fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2025.''.
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