Rural Health Bills

RURAL HOSPITAL LEGISLATION

AHA POSITION

The AHA is focused on ensuring all hospitals have the resources they need to provide high-quality care and meet the needs of their communities. That means:

• Advocating for appropriate Medicare payments;
• Working to extend expiring Medicare provisions;
• Improving federal programs to account for special circumstances in rural communities; and
• Seeking adequate funding for annually appropriated rural health programs.

In addition, existing special rural payment programs - the CAH, sole community hospital (SCH), Medicare dependent hospital (MDH), and rural referral center (RRC) programs - need to be reauthorized, updated and protected.


RURAL HOSPITAL ALERT

Following is information on recent activity concerning legislation that impacts your hospital - The Rural Hospital Access Act of 2012 (S. 2620), which was introduced in the Senate by two members of the Senate Finance Committee, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). This legislation would reauthorize both the Medicare-dependent Hospital (MDH) program and provide an extension of the enhanced low-volume Medicare adjustment for PPS hospitals for one year through September 30, 2013.

We encourage you to reach out to your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor this important legislation.

AHA Rural Hospital Alert S.2620 (PDF)


RURAL HOSPITAL BILLS

The priority rural hospital advocacy bills are:

• The Rural Hospital Access Act of 2012 (S. 2620), which was introduced by two members of the Senate Finance Committee, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). This legislation would reauthorize both the Medicare-dependent Hospital (MDH) program and provide an extension of the enhanced low-volume Medicare adjustment for PPS hospitals for one year through September 30, 2013.
• The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act (S. 1680 and H.R. 3859) or R-HoPE includes a "Sense of the Senate" that federal health policy must reflect the unique needs of residents of rural and frontier communities and among other things:
  - Extend the outpatient hold harmless through 2013
  - Extend the low-volume adjustment of 2000 discharges
  - Extend cost-based reimbursement for rural outpatient labs
  - Eliminate the isolation test for CAH-based ambulance services
  - Introduce capital infrastructure revolving loan program
  - Extend the billing for the technical component of physician pathology services
  - Reimburse CAHs for CRNA on-call services
• The Rural Hospital Protection Act (H.R. 1398) would ensure that the full cost of certain provider taxes are considered allowable costs for purposes of Medicare reimbursements to critical access hospitals (CAHs).
• The Rural Health Care Capital Access Reauthorization Act (S. 1431) to amend section 242 of the National Housing Act to extend the sunset provision for the exemption for CAHs under the FHA program of mortgage insurance for hospitals (expired July 2011).
• The Protecting Access to Rural Therapy Services (PARTS) Act (S. 778) would establish an advisory panel of clinicians to set up an exceptions process for outpatient therapy services that would require higher level of physician supervision than general supervision. In addition, the bill would adopt a default standard of general supervision for outpatient therapeutic services, establish a special rule for CAHs based upon their Medicare Conditions of Participation, revise the definition of "direct supervision" to allow for telemedicine, telephone or other technology, and put in place a hold harmless from civil or criminal action back to 2001.
• The 340B Improvement Act (H.R. 2674) would extend the 340B drug discount program for the purchases of drugs used during inpatient hospital stays and oppose any attempts to scale back this vital program.
• The Conrad State 30 Improvement Act (S. 1979) reauthorizes and improves the current J-1 visa waiver program to enable foreign physicians to remain in the United States and serve patients in medically underserved areas.  Authorization for the Conrad State 30 Program will expire on June 1, 2012.
• The Medicare Decisions Accountability Act (H.R. 452) introduced by Rep. David Roe (R-TN), would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board authorized by the ACA to set Medicare reimbursement rates. 226 co-sponsors, including 16 Democrats. Passed committee vote. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), introduced a companion measure, the Health Care Bureaucrats Elimination Act (S. 668) in the Senate.
• The Drug Shortage Prevention Act (H.R. 3839) would help address the issues leading to shortages of life-saving medications, and provide the Food and Drug Administration with additional authority and information that will assist in preventing or resolving further shortages in the future.