# 119-hr-1924: Securing Access to Care for Seniors in Critical Condition Act of 2025

119-hr-1924, Securing Access to Care for Seniors in Critical Condition Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Hern, Kevin [R-OK-1] (R-OK); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-16).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1924
- As of: 2026-09-16
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1924
- Congress: 119
- Title: Securing Access to Care for Seniors in Critical Condition Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-03-06
- Sponsor: Rep. Hern, Kevin [R-OK-1] (R-OK)
- Cosponsors: 9
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-16

## Summary

**Expands which long-term care hospital discharges are excluded from Medicare's site-neutral payment rule.** This bill would add a new "high acuity" criterion tied to the Medicare-Severity-Long-Term-Care-Diagnosis-Related-Group (MS-LTC-DRG) relative weight and apply it to discharges on or after October 1, 2026. - Long-term care hospitals (LTCHs): More discharges that meet the "high acuity" test could qualify for nonapplication of site-neutral payments, which may change how those stays are paid. - Patients with severe needs: Discharges assigned to MS-LTC-DRGs with a relative weight of 0.8 or higher would meet the new criterion if they occur on or after October 1, 2026. - Medicare payments and policy: The change adds a weight-based pathway alongside the existing ventilator criterion and alters which LTCH discharges escape site-neutral rates.

## Cosponsors (9)

- Rep. Boyle, Brendan F. [D-PA-2] (D-PA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Joyce, John [R-PA-13] (R-PA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] (R-WV), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Smucker, Lloyd [R-PA-11] (R-PA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24] (R-NY), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Davis, Donald G. [D-NC-1] (D-NC), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Carey, Mike [R-OH-15] (R-OH), 2025-06-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Moran, Nathaniel [R-TX-1] (R-TX), 2026-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Comer, James [R-KY-1] (R-KY), 2026-09-14T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Keep higher Medicare rates for serious long-term care hospital stays: benefit, low. This bill would add a new high-acuity test for long-term care hospital discharges. If a discharge happens on or after October 1, 2026, and its MS-LTC-DRG weight for that year is 0.8 or higher, Medicare’s site-neutral payment cut would not apply. The existing ventilator rule would still qualify as w…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025
- 119-hr-539: Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1492: To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to equalize the negotiation period between small-molecule and biologic candidates under the Drug Price Negotiation…
- 119-hr-1340: More Homes on the Market Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-1924 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1924)

## Related
- [119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-909)
- [119-hr-539: Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-539)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3514)
- [119-hr-1492: To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to equalize the negotiation period…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1492)
- [119-hr-1340: More Homes on the Market Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1340)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1924 (as of 2026-09-16).