PoliticalRepoPoliticalRepo

United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 5481 (116th)

Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2019

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

18 December 2019

Last action

18 December 2019 · Introduced

Status

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Sponsors

Adam Kinzinger, David Loebsack, Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19], Rodney Davis, Cynthia Axne, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, Fred Keller, Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-5], Jack Bergman, Angie Craig, Michael Guest, John Moolenaar, Sanford Bishop, Rep. Westerman, Bruce [R-AR-4], Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7], Vicky Hartzler, Robert Aderholt, Troy Balderson, Cheri Bustos, Matt Cartwright, James Comer, Abby Finkenauer, TJ Cox

Subjects

Healthcare

Source updated

5 December 2025

Healthcare

Summary

Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2019 This bill allows additional hospitals to qualify as critical access hospitals (CAHs) that receive special payment under Medicare. Currently, in order to qualify as a CAH under Medicare, a hospital must either (1) be located more than 35 miles (or 15 miles in mountainous regions or areas with only secondary roads) from another hospital, or (2) have been certified prior to January 1, 2006, by the state as a necessary provider of services in the area. The bill allows a hospital to also qualify if the hospital is a small, rural hospital that (1) serves a health professional shortage area, or a high number of low-income individuals or Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries; (2) has experienced financial losses for two consecutive years; and (3) attests to having a strategic plan to address financial solvency.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 18 December 2019

    Introduced

    Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 18 December 2019

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 18 December 2019

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in House (text)

View fileDownload file

Sponsors

Related records

Sources

PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.