# 119-hr-6596: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation under the Medicare program.

119-hr-6596, To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation under the Medicare program., is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6596
- 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-6596
- Congress: 119
- Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to adjust the eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation under the Medicare program.
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-12-10
- Sponsor: Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Expands Medicare eligibility for the rural emergency hospital designation to certain off‑campus outpatient departments that served as dedicated emergency departments in rural counties.** It would change the Social Security Act definition to count those off‑campus emergency departments and apply a lookback beginning January 1, 2015. - Families and rural residents: Could have more local emergency departments that qualify under Medicare’s rural emergency hospital rules, which may improve emergency access in rural counties. - Off‑campus outpatient departments and rural hospitals: Facilities that were off‑campus outpatient departments under section 1833(t)(21)(B) and that operated as dedicated emergency departments under 42 CFR 489.24(b) in areas defined as rural under 1886(d)(2)(D) would be newly eligible for the rural emergency hospital designation. - Medicare program and providers: Amends section 1861(kkk)(3) to widen which facilities meet the rural emergency hospital criteria and makes the change effective to include activity from January 1, 2015.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Estes, Ron [R-KS-4] (R-KS), 2025-12-10T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- More rural emergency hospitals qualify: benefit, medium. This bill would let some off‑campus emergency departments qualify as rural emergency hospitals under Medicare. To qualify, the department must have been an off‑campus outpatient department of a hospital and a dedicated emergency department under federal rules. The department must also have been loc…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-624: RIFLE Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-6596 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6596)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-624: RIFLE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-624)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-1181: Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1181)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6596 (as of 2026-04-21).