Rural Health Care Access Act of 2025

New rules for rural hospital status

This bill would change rules that decide which hospitals are called rural under Medicare's Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. It would remove two subclauses from a designation rule and add a time limit on some redesignations. The change to designation rules would apply to any designation or redesignation made on or after the date of enactment. Another change would limit a related paragraph to redesignations made before the date of enactment. If enacted, state agencies, rural hospitals, and Medicare patients in those communities could see different decisions about which hospitals qualify.