Save America’s Rural Hospitals Act
Sponsored By: Representative Graves
Introduced
Summary
Stabilizes rural hospital finances and expands rural care options by boosting Medicare payments for critical access and other rural hospitals, making several temporary payment rules permanent, and funding transformation grants to support new rural care models. The bill would also adjust cost sharing and certification rules to keep services available in low-volume and high-need areas.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Grants and help for rural care
If enacted, the bill would expand the Rural Hospital Flex program to give technical help and make grant funding more evenly distributed. It would also create 5-year rural health transformation grants to help providers move to new care models like rural emergency hospitals, extended-stay clinics, telehealth, and integrated behavioral health. Grants would require partnership with the State Office of Rural Health, local support and letters from major state payers, and a sustainability plan.
Stronger Medicare pay for rural hospitals
If enacted, Medicare payments to many rural hospitals would be strengthened. The bill would exempt certain rural hospital payments from sequestration starting 60 days after enactment. It would raise bad-debt reimbursement by 15% for hospitals in rural areas for cost reporting periods starting more than 60 days after enactment. The bill would also make permanent low-volume and Medicare-dependent hospital payment boosts, expand which rural hospitals can get higher DSH payments starting in fiscal year 2026, and create a 0.85 wage-index floor for most hospitals starting Oct 1, 2025, with budget-neutral safeguards.
Lowered CAH copays and access rules
If enacted, you would pay a new CAH outpatient copay formula for services paid under section 1834(g). For services in a year that begins more than 60 days after enactment, your copay would be 20% of the smaller of the hospital's actual charge or the hospital-equivalent payment basis. The bill would also remove the 96-hour average inpatient stay limit for critical access hospitals and let some hospitals furnish certain extended care services under section 1883 agreements starting 60 days after enactment, with the Secretary setting an appropriate coverage duration.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Graves
MO • R
Cosponsors
Budzinski
IL • D
Sponsored 6/3/2025
Huffman
CA • D
Sponsored 7/22/2025
Bergman
MI • R
Sponsored 10/21/2025
Neguse
CO • D
Sponsored 12/18/2025
Ciscomani
AZ • R
Sponsored 3/3/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in