II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 521
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive certain distance
requirements for certain hospitals electing to be designated as critical
access hospitals.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Mrs. F
ISCHERintroduced 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
certain distance requirements for certain hospitals elect-
ing to be designated as critical access hospitals.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Access to 4
Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025’’. 5
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•S 521 IS
SEC. 2. WAIVING CERTAIN DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR 1
CERTAIN HOSPITALS ELECTING TO BE DES-2
IGNATED AS CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1820(c)(2)(B)(i) of the 4
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–4(c)(2)(B)(i)) is 5
amended— 6
(1) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 7
end; 8
(2) in subclause (II), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the 9
end; and 10
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-11
clause: 12
‘‘(III) with respect to designa-13
tions occurring during the 1-year pe-14
riod beginning on the date that is 6 15
months after the date of the enact-16
ment of this subclause, is a rural com-17
munity hospital (as defined in sub-18
section (f) of section 410A of the 19
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improve-20
ment, and Modernization Act of 2003) 21
that was participating in the dem-22
onstration program established under 23
such section as of such date of enact-24
ment.’’. 25
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•S 521 IS
(b) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1
410A(f)(1)(A)(iv) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Im-2
provement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (42 U.S.C. 3
1395ww note) is amended by striking ‘‘is not’’ and all that 4
follows through the period and inserting ‘‘is not a critical 5
access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the 6
Social Security Act).’’. 7
Æ
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