This bill amends Medicare rules to let certain closed rural hospitals reopen as "rural emergency hospitals," a designation created to help sustain emergency and outpatient care in rural communities. Currently, only hospitals that were operating as of a certain date can convert to this status, but the bill extends eligibility to critical access hospitals or rural hospitals that were operational between January 1, 2014, and December 26, 2020, but have since closed. These reopened facilities would be exempt from certain existing requirements, such as needing to have already been enrolled in Medicare or submitting a transition action plan. However, the bill also limits certain Medicare payment increases for these reopened facilities if they are located very close to another hospital or emergency facility, specifically reducing a monthly facility payment boost for those within 35 miles of another hospital and adjusting an ambulance payment provision for those within 10 miles. These changes would take effect January 1, 2027, giving communities and healthcare providers time to prepare for reopening shuttered rural hospitals under this new pathway.
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