| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 521 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive certain distance |
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| 6 | 6 | | requirements for certain hospitals electing to be designated as critical |
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| 7 | 7 | | access hospitals. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 9 | 9 | | FEBRUARY11, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mrs. F |
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| 11 | 11 | | ISCHERintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred |
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| 12 | 12 | | to the Committee on Finance |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive |
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| 15 | 15 | | certain distance requirements for certain hospitals elect- |
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| 16 | 16 | | ing to be designated as critical access hospitals. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Access to 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S521.IS S521 |
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| 23 | 23 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | •S 521 IS |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. WAIVING CERTAIN DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR 1 |
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| 26 | 26 | | CERTAIN HOSPITALS ELECTING TO BE DES-2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | IGNATED AS CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS. 3 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (a) I |
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| 29 | 29 | | NGENERAL.—Section 1820(c)(2)(B)(i) of the 4 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–4(c)(2)(B)(i)) is 5 |
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| 31 | 31 | | amended— 6 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 7 |
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| 33 | 33 | | end; 8 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) in subclause (II), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the 9 |
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| 35 | 35 | | end; and 10 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (3) by adding at the end the following new sub-11 |
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| 37 | 37 | | clause: 12 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(III) with respect to designa-13 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tions occurring during the 1-year pe-14 |
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| 40 | 40 | | riod beginning on the date that is 6 15 |
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| 41 | 41 | | months after the date of the enact-16 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ment of this subclause, is a rural com-17 |
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| 43 | 43 | | munity hospital (as defined in sub-18 |
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| 44 | 44 | | section (f) of section 410A of the 19 |
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| 45 | 45 | | Medicare Prescription Drug, Improve-20 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ment, and Modernization Act of 2003) 21 |
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| 47 | 47 | | that was participating in the dem-22 |
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| 48 | 48 | | onstration program established under 23 |
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| 49 | 49 | | such section as of such date of enact-24 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ment.’’. 25 |
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| 51 | 51 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S521.IS S521 |
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| 52 | 52 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 53 | 53 | | •S 521 IS |
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| 54 | 54 | | (b) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1 |
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| 55 | 55 | | 410A(f)(1)(A)(iv) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Im-2 |
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| 56 | 56 | | provement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (42 U.S.C. 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | 1395ww note) is amended by striking ‘‘is not’’ and all that 4 |
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| 58 | 58 | | follows through the period and inserting ‘‘is not a critical 5 |
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| 59 | 59 | | access hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm)(1) of the 6 |
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| 60 | 60 | | Social Security Act).’’. 7 |
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| 61 | 61 | | Æ |
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| 62 | 62 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S521.IS S521 |
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| 63 | 63 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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