IC 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 607 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2016 

Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

AN ACT 

To provide for a five-year extension of the Medicare rural 

community hospital demonstration program. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Community Hos3 pital Demonstration Extension Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION OF THE RURAL COMMUNITY 

5 HOSPITAL DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM. 

6 (a) EXTENSION.—Section 410A of the Medicare Pre7 scription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 

8 2003 (Public Law 108–173; 42 U.S.C. 1395ww note), as 

9 amended by sections 3123 and 10313 of the Patient Pro10 tection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148), 

11 is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)(5), by striking ‘‘5-year ex13 tension period’’ and inserting ‘‘10-year extension pe14 riod’’; and 

15 (2) in subsection (g)— 

16 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

17 ‘‘FIVE-YEAR’’ and inserting ‘‘TEN-YEAR’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘addi19 tional 5-year’’ and inserting ‘‘additional 10- 

20 year’’; 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘5-year extension period’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘10-year extension period’’ each 

23 place it appears; 

24 (D) in paragraph (4)(B)— 


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1 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

2 by inserting ‘‘each 5-year period in’’ after 

3 ‘‘hospital during’’; and 

4 (ii) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘each 

5 applicable 5-year period in’’ after ‘‘the first 

6 day of’’; and 

7 (E) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraphs: 

9 ‘‘(5) OTHER HOSPITALS IN DEMONSTRATION

10 PROGRAM.—During the second 5 years of the 10- 

11 year extension period, the Secretary shall apply the 

12 provisions of paragraph (4) to rural community hos13 pitals that are not described in paragraph (4) but 

14 are participating in the demonstration program 

15 under this section as of December 30, 2014, in a 

16 similar manner as such provisions apply to rural 

17 community hospitals described in paragraph (4). 

18 ‘‘(6) EXPANSION OF DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

19 TO RURAL AREAS IN ANY STATE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, 

21 notwithstanding subsection (a)(2) or paragraph 

22 (2) of this subsection, not later than 120 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this para24 graph, issue a solicitation for applications to se25 lect up to the maximum number of additional 


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1 rural community hospitals located in any State 

2 to participate in the demonstration program 

3 under this section for the second 5 years of the 

4 10-year extension period without exceeding the 

5 limitation under paragraph (3) of this sub6 section. 

7 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—In determining which 

8 rural community hospitals that submitted an 

9 application pursuant to the solicitation under 

10 subparagraph (A) to select for participation in 

11 the demonstration program, the Secretary— 

12 ‘‘(i) shall give priority to rural com13 munity hospitals located in one of the 20 

14 States with the lowest population densities 

15 (as determined by the Secretary using the 

16 2015 Statistical Abstract of the United 

17 States); and 

18 ‘‘(ii) may consider— 

19 ‘‘(I) closures of hospitals located 

20 in rural areas in the State in which 

21 the rural community hospital is lo22 cated during the 5-year period imme23 diately preceding the date of the en24 actment of this paragraph; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the population density of 

2 the State in which the rural commu3 nity hospital is located.’’. 

4 (b) CHANGE IN TIMING FOR REPORT.—Subsection 

5 (e) of such section 410A is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘Not later than 6 months after 

7 the completion of the demonstration program under 

8 this section’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than August 

9 1, 2018’’; and 

10 (2) by striking ‘‘such program’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘the demonstration program under this section’’. 

Passed the Senate January 20, 2016. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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