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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.
Summary
The bill amends the Medicare program to allow certain rural hospitals to maintain critical access hospital status even if they do not meet current location requirements. The provision applies to hospitals that were designated as critical access hospitals before January 1, 2002, were certified as such as of December 31, 2024, and are located in counties where no other hospitals exist. These hospitals may continue to be treated as critical access hospitals under Medicare as long as they otherwise meet eligibility criteria established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
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)
- Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] (R-CA)
Actions (2)
- Oct 24, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Oct 24, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
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Text versions (1)
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Full text
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.
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 Fairness Act”.
SEC. 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.”. <all>
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