# 119-hr-5644: Catastrophic Specialty Hospital Act of 2025

119-hr-5644, Catastrophic Specialty Hospital Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Loudermilk, Barry [R-GA-11] (R-GA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5644
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5644
- Congress: 119
- Title: Catastrophic Specialty Hospital Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-09-30
- Sponsor: Rep. Loudermilk, Barry [R-GA-11] (R-GA)
- Cosponsors: 6
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Creates a new Medicare payment path for long-term care hospitals that focus on severe spinal cord and acquired brain injury care.** The bill would let qualifying long-term care hospitals be designated as catastrophic specialty hospitals and paid outside the standard LTCH payment rules when the Secretary finds they meet the law's criteria. - Hospitals that seek designation must meet strict clinical and operational criteria. These include a 3-year look-back and a requirement that at least 80% of discharges be for spinal cord injury or acquired brain injury, plus standards on case volumes, interstate admissions, research staff, and training programs. - Patients with spinal cord injury or acquired brain injury could see more access to facilities that provide a continuum of inpatient and outpatient care and that maintain dedicated neurorehabilitation research and training. - Designation lasts for cost reporting periods across a multi-year window and requires periodic redesignation and compliance checks, with opportunities to submit additional information before a designation ends.

## Cosponsors (6)

- Rep. DeGette, Diana [D-CO-1] (D-CO), 2025-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Scott, Austin [R-GA-8] (R-GA), 2025-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Crow, Jason [D-CO-6] (D-CO), 2025-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Williams, Nikema [D-GA-5] (D-GA), 2025-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA), 2025-12-10T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Carey, Mike [R-OH-15] (R-OH), 2026-03-19T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- New Medicare designation for spinal and brain injury hospitals: benefit, low. This bill would let HHS label some long-term care hospitals as catastrophic specialty hospitals. To qualify, at least 80% of discharges over a 3-year look-back would be for spinal cord or acquired brain injury. Each year in that period, the hospital would need at least 175 discharges for spinal cor…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4382: America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act
- 119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-2192: Air America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1329: Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-5644 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5644)

## Related
- [119-hr-4382: America’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coins Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4382)
- [119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-452)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-2192: Air America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2192)
- [119-hr-1329: Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1329)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5644 (as of 2026-04-21).