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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on payments to sole community hospitals located in Alaska and Hawaii under the hospital outpatient prospective payment system.
Summary
This bill amends Medicare law to establish a minimum payment floor for sole community hospitals located in Alaska and Hawaii. Under the current hospital outpatient payment system, these hospitals may receive payments that fall below their actual costs of providing services. The bill requires that if Medicare payments to these hospitals drop below 94 percent of their reasonable costs for outpatient services, the government must increase payments to reach that 94 percent threshold. The payment increases do not affect patient copayments and are not required to be budget neutral. The Department of Health and Human Services must issue implementing regulations within six months, with the new payments effective for services furnished starting January 1 following regulation issuance.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
- Rep. Case, Ed [D-HI-1] (D-HI)
- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2] (D-HI)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Nicholas J. Begich’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $310,813
- TEAMHEALTH EMERGENCY PHYSICIANS $44,901
- PETRO 49, INC $18,931
- ODOM CORP $12,500
- CHARLES SCHWAB CORPORATION $9,183
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Nicholas J. Begich → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jun 30, 2025 Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. · house
- Jun 30, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 30, 2025
Mr. Begich (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a floor on payments to sole community hospitals located in Alaska and Hawaii under the hospital outpatient prospective payment system.
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 “Save our Lone Emergency Services Act” or the “SOLES Act”.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF SOLE COMMUNITY HOSPITALS LOCATED IN ALASKA AND HAWAII UNDER HOSPITAL OUTPATIENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM.
Section 1833(t) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(23) Treatment of sole community hospitals located in alaska and hawaii.—
“(A) In general.—If the Secretary determines that the amount of payment under this subsection for covered OPD services furnished by a sole community hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)(5)(D)(iii)) that is located in Alaska or Hawaii is less than 94 percent of the reasonable costs (as defined in section 1861(v)) of the hospital providing such services, the amount of payment under this subsection shall be increased by the amount of such difference.
“(B) No effect on copayments.—Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to affect the copayment amount under paragraph (8).
“(C) Application without regard to budget neutrality.—The additional payments made under this paragraph—
“(i) shall not be considered an adjustment under paragraph (2)(E); and
“(ii) shall not be implemented in a budget neutral manner.
“(D) Rulemaking.—Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this paragraph, which shall be effective with respect to covered OPD services furnished on or after the first January 1 after such date.”. <all>
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