Rural Hospital Fairness Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5821 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5821

  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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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.''.
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