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HR 538 119th Congress House Health Health care coverage and access Health facilities and institutions Health personnel Hospital care Medicare Rural conditions and development

Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2025

Introduced: January 16, 2025 Introduced by: Smith, Adrian Republican · Nebraska See on congress.gov
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 16, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Jan 16, 2025
Introduced in House
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2025

This bill repeals the 96-hour physician-certification requirement for inpatient critical access hospital services under Medicare. Under current law, as a condition for Medicare payment for such services, a physician must certify that a patient may reasonably be expected to be discharged or transferred to a hospital within 96 hours after admission to the critical access hospital.

What's happening now January 16, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 24

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 538: Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-538/
MLA
"H.R. 538: Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-538/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 538, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-538/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 538: Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-538/)
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