# 119-s-521: Supporting Access to Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025

119-s-521, Supporting Access to Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] (R-NE); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-521
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-521
- Congress: 119
- Title: Supporting Access to Rural Community Hospitals Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-02-11
- Sponsor: Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] (R-NE)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Temporarily lets rural community hospitals become Critical Access Hospitals to access Medicare’s cost-based payments.** This bill would allow hospitals that are participating in the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program to be designated as Critical Access Hospitals for a one-year window beginning six months after enactment even if they do not meet the usual distance rules. The change relies on the demo program's definitions and removes the distance barrier so these small rural hospitals can qualify for CAH payment treatment during that period.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Temporary CAH path for rural hospitals: benefit, low. If enacted, this would let certain rural community hospitals be treated as eligible for critical access hospital (CAH) designation for a short time. The rule would apply only to hospitals that were in the Section 410A demonstration on the date of enactment and meet the Section 410A rural hospital d…
- Narrower definition for rural hospitals: cost, low. If enacted, this would change the Section 410A definition to say the subject "is not a critical access hospital" as defined in the Social Security Act. That would let Medicare reviewers exclude facilities that are already CAHs from the Section 410A rural hospital definition. Excluding those hospita…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2828: Child Care Modernization Act of 2025
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-3257: John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act
- 119-s-1616: PRECISE Act of 2025
- 119-s-1617: LAST ACRE Act of 2025
- 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act

## Sources
- [119-s-521 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/521)

## Related
- [119-s-2828: Child Care Modernization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2828)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-3257: John A. Hauser Mental Health in Aviation Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3257)
- [119-s-1616: PRECISE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1616)
- [119-s-1617: LAST ACRE Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1617)
- [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-521 (as of 2025-12-21).