Title: Creating Capacity for Communities in Need Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Creating Capacity for Communities in Need Act
This bill provides for an exception, during the national emergency relating to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), to provisions under the Stark law (i.e., the Physician Self-Referral Law) that prohibit physician-owned hospitals from expanding facility capacity.
Specifically, the bill excludes from such restrictions any increase in operating rooms, procedure rooms, or beds for which a hospital is licensed or begins construction during the period of March 13, 2020, through the last day of the national emergency.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3547 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3547

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive limitations on 
   expansion of facility capacity under rural provider and hospital 
  exception to ownership or investment prohibition during coronavirus 
                         2020 emergency period.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 19, 2020

  Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Braun, and Mr. 
    Inhofe) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive limitations on 
   expansion of facility capacity under rural provider and hospital 
  exception to ownership or investment prohibition during coronavirus 
                         2020 emergency period.

    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 ``Creating Capacity for Communities in 
Need Act''.

SEC. 2. WAIVER OF LIMITATIONS ON EXPANSION OF FACILITY CAPACITY UNDER 
              RURAL PROVIDER AND HOSPITAL EXCEPTION TO OWNERSHIP OR 
              INVESTMENT PROHIBITION DURING CORONAVIRUS 2020 EMERGENCY 
              PERIOD.

    Section 1877(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395nn(i)(1)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``capacity.--Except as provided in 
        paragraph (3), the number'' and inserting ``capacity''.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Except as provided in 
                        paragraph (3) and subject to clause (ii), the 
                        number''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new clause:
                            ``(ii) Exception during coronavirus 2020 
                        emergency period.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--The limitation 
                                under clause (i) shall not apply with 
                                respect to any increase in the number 
                                of operating rooms, procedure rooms, or 
                                beds for which a hospital is licensed 
                                during the coronavirus 2020 emergency 
                                period, or for which the hospital 
                                begins construction during the 
                                coronavirus 2020 emergency period 
                                regardless of whether the hospital is 
                                an applicable hospital (as defined in 
                                paragraph (3)(E)) or is a high Medicaid 
                                facility described in paragraph (3)(F), 
                                and the hospital's baseline number of 
                                operating rooms, procedure rooms, and 
                                beds for purposes of compliance with 
                                this subparagraph shall be 
                                automatically modified to reflect such 
                                increase on a permanent basis.
                                    ``(II) Coronavirus 2020 emergency 
                                period defined.--For purposes of this 
                                clause, the `coronavirus 2020 emergency 
                                period' is the period beginning on 
                                March 13, 2020, and ending on the last 
                                day on which the emergency declared by 
                                the President under section 501 of the 
                                Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
                                Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
                                5191) with respect to SARS-C0V-2 and 
                                coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated 
                                as COVID-19) is in effect.''.
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