Rural Hospital Access Act of 2017

Bill: 115-s-872
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]
Introduced: 2017-04-06
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health care coverage and access

Health facilities and institutions

Hospital care

Medicare

Rural conditions and development
Latest action: action_date: 2017-04-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-04-06
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Rural Hospital Access Act of 2017</strong></p> <p>This bill permanently extends the Medicare-Dependent Hospital program&nbsp;(which provides increased&nbsp;payments to certain&nbsp;smaller, rural hospitals that serve a proportionally high number of Medicare patients)&nbsp;and the program for increased payments under Medicare for low-volume hospitals. </p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 872 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 6 (legislative day, April 4), 2017 Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Schumer , Ms. Stabenow , Mrs. Capito , Mrs. McCaskill , Ms. Baldwin , Mr. Leahy , Mr. Bennet , Mr. McCain , and Mr. Gardner ) 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 make permanent the extension of the Medicare-dependent hospital (MDH) program and the increased payments under the Medicare low-volume hospital program.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Rural Hospital Access Act of 2017 . 2. Extension of the Medicare-dependent hospital (MDH) program (a) Extension of payment methodology Section 1886(d)(5)(G) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(G) ) is amended— (1) in clause (i), by striking , and before October 1, 2017 ; and (2) in clause (ii)(II), by striking , and before October 1, 2017 . (b) Conforming amendments (1) Extension of target amount Section 1886(b)(3)(D) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(b)(3)(D) ) is amended— (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking , and before October 1, 2017 ; and (B) in clause (iv), by striking through fiscal year 2017 and inserting or a subsequent fiscal year . (2) Permitting hospitals to decline reclassification Section 13501(e)(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww note) is amended by striking fiscal year 2000 through fiscal year 2017 and inserting a subsequent fiscal year . 3. Extension of the increased payments under the Medicare Low-Volume Hospital Program Section 1886(d)(12) of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(12) ) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (B)— (A) in the heading, by inserting for fiscal years 2005 through 2010 after increase ; and (B) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking and for discharges occurring in fiscal year 2018 and subsequent fiscal years ; (2) in subparagraph (C)(i)— (A) by striking fiscal years 2011 through 2017 each place it appears and inserting fiscal year 2011 and each subsequent year ; and (B) by striking or portion of fiscal year ; and (3) in subparagraph (D)— (A) in the heading, by striking Temporary applicable percentage increase and inserting Applicable percentage increase beginning with fiscal year 2011 ; (B) by striking fiscal years 2011 through 2017, and inserting fiscal year 2011 and each subsequent fiscal year ; and (C) by striking or the portion of fiscal year each place it appears.