Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2025
Official title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive for certain facilities the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hos… Show full official titleShow less
Official title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State authority to waive for certain facilities the 35-mile rule for designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.
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Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2025
This bill temporarily 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 beneficiaries; (2) has experienced financial losses for two consecutive years; and (3) attests to having a strategic plan to address financial solvency and to committing to provide a service that is in high demand in the hospital's service area. This authority expires nine years after the bill's enactment.
The Government Accountability Office must study the effects of the bill's implementation. In addition, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission must study and recommend payment systems for rural hospitals under Medicare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must subsequently establish a mechanism and issue guidance on how newly designated CAHs may transition to different payment models under Medicare, including any new payment models recommended by the commission.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
- ASSOCIATION OF EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS
- AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
- CAROL G HOLLADAY & ASSOCIATES
- ASSOCIATION OF EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS
- CAROL G HOLLADAY & ASSOCIATES
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)
- Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS)
- Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Commerce, Dept of (DOC)
- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
- White House Office
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 6240: Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6240/
"H.R. 6240: Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6240/.
H.R. 6240, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6240/.
[H.R. 6240: Rural Hospital Closure Relief Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-6240/)