H.R. 5821

119 HR 5821 IH: Rural Hospital Fairness Act
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-10-24
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 I  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. R. 5821  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   October 24, 2025   Mr. LaMalfa  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 provide for the treatment of certain hospitals as critical access hospitals under the Medicare program.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Rural Hospital Fairness Act  .
2.
Providing for the treatment of certain hospitals as critical access hospitals under the Medicare program
Section 1820(h) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395i–4(h) ) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
(4)
Continuation of CAH status for certain facilities
(A)
In general
A facility described in  subparagraph (B)  that does not meet the location requirement under subsection (c)(2)(B)(i)(I) (and was not certified by the State as being a necessary provider of health care services to residents in the area under subsection (c)(2)(B)(i)(II)) shall be deemed to have been certified by the Secretary under subsection (e) as a critical access hospital so long as such facility is otherwise eligible to be designated by the State as a critical access hospital under subsection (c) and meets any other criteria required by the Secretary under subsection (e)(3).
(B)
Facility described
For purposes of  subparagraph (A) , a facility described in this subparagraph is a facility that—
(i)
was designated as a critical access hospital before January 1, 2002;
(ii)
as of December 31, 2024, was certified by the Secretary under subsection (e) as a critical access hospital; and
(iii)
as of the date on which the facility was officially notified by the Secretary that it was no longer so certified, was located in a county (or equivalent unit of local government) in which no other hospital, critical access hospital, or rural emergency hospital was located.
 .