WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) are
seeking assurances from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding
the agency’s pending guidelines for rural emergency hospital (REH)
designations. Specifically, the lawmakers are seeking assurance from CMS that
the Keokuk hospital, which closed its doors last week, is eligible for an REH
designation in the future. An REH designation, which
Grassley helped get signed into law in 2020, provides rural hospitals with the
option to right-size their health care infrastructure while maintaining
essential medical services for their communities.
“We believe it is critical that CMS
implement REH with an understanding of the needs and challenges of rural
hospitals to maintain health care access for rural America. Specifically, we
request CMS to clarify whether a rural hospital is eligible to become a REH if
it met the eligibility requirements on December 27, 2020, but has since closed
or has begun the process to close prior to REH’s effective date (January 1,
2023),” the lawmakers wrote.
“There is a strong desire from Keokuk’s
community leaders for their hospital to be eligible in the future to become a
REH. While the community has not made a final decision on establishing a REH,
we would like to know about any federal regulatory barriers for the hospital
and community,” the lawmakers continued.
Full text of the letter is available
HERE.
“The
closure of the Keokuk hospital is just one of many hospital closures occurring
in rural America and is not the last. The loss to Keokuk and southeast Iowa is,
at the very least, diminished health care for the region’s citizens and, at the
extreme, the inability to save a life. The city of Keokuk and community leaders
are doing all they can to ensure we have access to high-quality health care
services in the community. We are exploring every option available with
federal, state, and other local leaders, especially a Rural Emergency
Hospital. I want to thank Senator
Grassley and Representative Miller-Meeks for their advocacy to the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services to determine if our community may be eligible
for the new Rural Emergency Hospital program,” said Keokuk Mayor Kathie Mahoney.
In 2020, Grassley was instrumental in getting the REH
designation
signed into law. REH offers a financial lifeline for providers by
allowing certain rural hospitals to customize their health care infrastructure
and provide services that better align with the specific needs of their patient
populations. The policy creates a new, voluntary Medicare payment designation
that allows either a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) or a small, rural hospital
with less than 50 beds to convert to an REH. The goal is to preserve patient
access to emergency medical care in rural areas that can no longer support a
fully operational inpatient hospital.
-30-
