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Bill
Notes

H.R. 8246 — what changed

Second Chances for Rural Hospitals Act

From Introduced in House to Reported in House. 1 section amended between Introduced in House and Reported in House.

Sec. 2 Expanding the definition of rural emergency hospital under the Medicare program

(a)
added In general— Section 1861(kkk) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)) is amended—
(1)
added in paragraph (2)(A), by striking “is enrolled under section 1866(j)” and inserting “except in the case of a facility described in paragraph (3)(B)”;
(2)
added in paragraph (3)—
(A)
added in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”;
(B)
added by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and adjusting the margins accordingly;
(C)
added by striking “facility that as of” and inserting

added “(A) that as of”

removed Section 1861(kkk)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)(3)) is amended—

(1)
removed in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “as of the date of the enactment of this subsection” and inserting “as of January 1, 2014”;
(2)
removed in subparagraph (A), by striking “or” at the end;
(3)
removed in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(D)
renumbered was (6) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

added “(B) that—

added “(i) during the period beginning January 1, 2014, and ending December 26, 2020—

added “(I) was a critical access hospital; or

added “(II) was a subsection (d) hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)(1)(B)) located in a county (or equivalent unit of local government) in a rural area (as defined in section 1886(d)(2)(D)); and

added “(ii) as of the date of the enactment of this subparagraph, had ceased operations.”

(3)
added in paragraph (4)—
(A)
added in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking “An action plan” and inserting “Except in the case of a facility described in paragraph (3)(B), an action plan”; and
(B)
added in subparagraph (B)(i), by inserting “except in the case of a facility described in paragraph (3)(B),” before “the facility”.
(b)
added Amendments to payment rules— Section 1834(x) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(x)) is amended—
(1)
added in paragraph (1), by inserting “, except that, in the case of a facility described in section 1861(kkk)(3)(B) that, as of the date on which such facility submits an application under section 1866(j) to enroll under this title as a rural emergency hospital, is located less than 35 miles away from the nearest hospital, critical access hospital, or rural emergency hospital, such increase shall not apply” before the period at the end; and
(2)
added in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting “(other than a facility described in section 1861(kkk)(3)(B) that, as of the date on which such facility submits an application under section 1866(j) to enroll under this title as a rural emergency hospital, is located less than 10 miles away from the nearest hospital, critical access hospital, or rural emergency hospital)” after “rural emergency hospital”.
(c)
added Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply beginning January 1, 2027.

removed “(C) was designated as rural by the Office of Rural Health Policy of the Health Resources and Services Administration.”