WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
is calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to
finalize regulations for the new rural emergency hospital (REH) designation, a
voluntary Medicare payment for rural hospitals that ensures minimal
administrative burden, maximum flexibility and timely implementation. Over the
last several years, Grassley has visited more than 35 rural hospitals and
clinics. His
letter
contains several recommendations for CMS to consider, which are based on
concerns Grassley heard directly from Iowans during these meetings.
“REH is a bipartisan solution that
enables rural hospitals the option to right-size their health care
infrastructure while maintaining essential medical services for their
communities. The existence of a rural hospital contributes to economic growth
and can sustain a community,” Grassley
wrote. “CMS must finalize regulations with minimal administrative burden,
maximum flexibility, and without delay.”
“Senator Grassley’s Rural Emergency
Hospital (REH) legislation, which IHA and Iowa hospitals successfully advocated
and supported throughout the legislative process, has made another important
step forward with CMS issuing their proposed plan for implementation and
operation of REHs. The REH designation will help ensure access to critical
health care services remain available wherever the patient is located, and
hospitals will have what they need to take care of their communities,” said Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) President
and CEO Chris Mitchell.
In 2020, Grassley was instrumental in
getting a 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.
As a lifelong resident of rural Iowa,
Grassley understands the importance of having accessible health care services
close to home and has fought to ensure rural America has access to health care.
In
2015,
he brought rural health care stakeholders together to develop the framework of
what eventually became REH. As Finance Committee chairman, Grassley worked with
his colleagues to
enact several victories for rural health care, including supporting rural hospitals in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic and making mental telehealth visits a
permanent benefit under Medicare. This Congress, he has worked in a bipartisan
manner to pass the
Rural
Health Clinic Protection Act and introduce the
Rural
Hospital Support Act
to protect key Medicare rural hospital programs.
This work builds on his successful efforts
to support the critical access hospital program, reauthorize the
Medicare-dependent hospital program, establish and reauthorize the low volume
hospital program and establish and reauthorize the rural community hospital
demonstration, to name a few.
Full text of the letter is available
HERE.
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