# 119-s-1390: Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act

119-s-1390, Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-02).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1390
- As of: 2026-09-02
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1390
- Congress: 119
- Title: Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-04-09
- Sponsor: Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Cosponsors: 10
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-02

## Summary

**Creates a new "covered rural hospital" category** and changes how physician self-referral rules apply to physician-owned hospitals in rural areas. The bill would let certain rural hospitals that enroll in Medicare (Title XVIII of the Social Security Act) meet a narrow set of criteria that changes which self-referral exemptions apply, and it would lift a ban on certain hospital expansions starting on the date of enactment. - Rural hospitals and communities: Hospitals located in rural areas that enroll in Medicare and meet the specified criteria could be designated as "covered rural hospitals," which changes how self-referral exemptions apply to them. This affects which physician-investment arrangements are treated as exempt. - Physician-owners and hospital investors: The bill would add a sunset to the expansion prohibition, allowing physician-owned hospitals to expand beginning on the date of enactment for the covered category, subject to the bill's criteria. - Medicare program and enrollment rules: The law would amend the Medicare statute to add a definition of "covered rural hospital" and to clarify that meeting the listed criteria does not require meeting other unrelated criteria under section 1820(c)(2)(B).

## Cosponsors (10)

- Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS] (R-KS), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] (R-LA), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Tillis, Thomas [R-NC] (R-NC), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK-2] (R-OK), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] (R-AR), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] (R-WY), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] (R-NC), 2025-04-09T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Justice, James C. [R-WV] (R-WV), 2025-05-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. McCormick, David [R-PA] (R-PA), 2026-08-06T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Allows physician-owned hospitals to expand: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would end the statutory ban on expanding physician-owned hospitals starting on the date of enactment. Physician owners would be able to grow or add facilities that were previously restricted. This change could affect investor and hospital expansion plans that interact with Medi…
- New rules for covered rural hospitals: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would create a new "covered rural hospital" category for Medicare referral rules. A hospital would be covered if it is in a rural area and met specific enrollment criteria when it joined Medicare. The bill would also remove two existing Medicare self-referral exemptions for tho…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1071: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-s-5526: Agricultural Act of 2026
- 119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act
- 119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025
- 119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
- 119-s-9: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-s-1390 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1390)

## Related
- [119-s-1071: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1071)
- [119-s-5526: Agricultural Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5526)
- [119-s-401: Fair Access to Banking Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-401)
- [119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-186)
- [119-s-6: Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-6)
- [119-s-9: Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-9)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1390 (as of 2026-09-02).