II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3085 

To assist in the transition of a certain hospital to a Medicare rural emergency 

hospital, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 27, 2021 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To assist in the transition of a certain hospital to a Medicare 

rural emergency hospital, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Account for 

5 Rural Medical Outpatient Needs in Oklahoma Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘HARMON Oklahoma Act’’. 


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•S 3085 IS

1 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE IN THE TRANSITION OF A CERTAIN 

2 HOSPITAL TO A MEDICARE RURAL EMER3 GENCY HOSPITAL. 

4 (a) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a critical access 

5 hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm) of the Social Se6 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(mm))) with a Centers for 

7 Medicare & Medicaid Services certification number of 

8 371338, the following shall apply: 

9 (1) Pursuant to the June 11, 2021, Centers for 

10 Medicare & Medicaid Services letter sent to the crit11 ical access hospital— 

12 (A) the Secretary of Health and Human 

13 Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec14 retary’’) shall suspend the running of the twen15 ty-four month extension mentioned in the Octo16 ber 15, 2019, letter to the hospital during the 

17 COVID–19 public health emergency; and 

18 (B) the hospital shall have 19.7 months 

19 after the end of the COVID–19 public health 

20 emergency to notify the Centers for Medicare & 

21 Medicaid Services of the hospital’s intent to ei22 ther convert to an acute care hospital, transi23 tion to a rural emergency hospital under section 

24 1861(kkk) of the Social Security Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)) (if the hospital qualifies as 

26 such), or terminate as a critical access hospital. 


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•S 3085 IS

1 (2) Prior to the end of the 19.7 months de2 scribed in paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall not 

3 take an adverse redesignation action with respect to 

4 the critical access hospital status of the hospital as 

5 long as the hospital continues to meet all of the re6 quirements for designation as a critical access hos7 pital other than the distance requirement under sec8 tion 1820(c)(2)(B)(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i– 

9 4(c)(2)(B)(i)). 

10 (3) If, prior to the end of the 19.7 months de11 scribed in paragraph (1)(B), the critical access hos12 pital notifies the Secretary of the hospital’s intention 

13 to transition to a rural emergency hospital, the Sec14 retary— 

15 (A) shall give priority to the processing of 

16 the request for such transition; and 

17 (B) shall not take an adverse redesignation 

18 action with respect to the critical access hos19 pital status of the hospital prior to the later 

20 of— 

21 (i) the end of the 19.7 months de22 scribed in paragraph (1)(B); or 

23 (ii) the date the Secretary makes a 

24 final determination with respect to such re25 quest. 


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•S 3085 IS

1 (b) TIMELINE FOR REGULATIONS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

3 (A) not later than July 1, 2022, promul4 gate a proposed rule to carry out the provisions 

5 of, and amendments made by, section 125 of di6 vision CC of the Consolidated Appropriations 

7 Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260); and 

8 (B) not later than November 1, 2022, pro9 mulgate a final rule to carry out such provi10 sions and amendments. 

11 (2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The Secretary 

12 shall ensure that the proposed and final rules re13 quired under paragraph (1) contain a description of 

14 the additional information that will be required 

15 under section 1861(kkk)(4) of the Social Security 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)(4)). 

Æ 


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