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To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation under the Medicare program.
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation under the Medicare program.
Summary
This bill amends the Medicare program to expand eligibility for rural emergency hospital designation. It changes the qualifying time period to include any facility that met the criteria at any point between January 1, 2015, and a specified end date, rather than as of a fixed point in time. The bill also adds off-campus emergency departments of hospitals located in rural counties as a newly eligible category for this designation. These changes would broaden which rural healthcare facilities can receive Medicare's rural emergency hospital designation.
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. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
1 cosponsor
- Rep. Estes, Ron [R-KS-4] (R-KS)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Derek Schmidt’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- WATCO COMPANIES $13,200
- MILLER'S PROFESSIONAL IMAGING $13,200
- WEALTH ALLIANCE ADVISORY GROUP, LLC $10,035
- SNK REAL PROPERTY HOLDINGS, LLC $9,900
- SILVER LAKE BANK $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Derek Schmidt → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Dec 10, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Dec 10, 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.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 10, 2025
Mr. Schmidt (for himself and Mr. Estes) 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 adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation 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. ADJUSTING ELIGIBILITY FOR RURAL EMERGENCY HOSPITAL DESIGNATION UNDER MEDICARE.
Section 1861(kkk)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)(3)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “as of” and inserting “, at any point during the period beginning on January 1, 2015, and ending on”;
(2) in subparagraph (A), by striking “or” at the end;
(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(C) was an off-campus outpatient department of a hospital (as defined in section 1833(t)(21)(B)) that—
“(i) was a dedicated emergency department (as defined in section 489.24(b) of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation)); and
“(ii) was located in a county (or equivalent unit of local government) in a rural area (as defined in section 1886(d)(2)(D)).”. <all>
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