{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://benniethompson.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-bennie-thompson-and-mark-green-introduce-legislation-boost-rural-hospitals", "Reps. Bennie Thompson and Mark Green Introduce Legislation to Boost Rural Hospitals", "2019-05-23", "2019", "2019-05", "Democrat", "House", "MS", "Bennie Thompson", "T000193", "benniethompson.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Reps. Bennie Thompson and Mark Green IntroduceLegislation to Boost Rural Hospitals\n\nWASHINGTON  Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Mark Green (R-TN) will introducea new bipartisan piece of legislation today designed to boost rural hospitals called the Rural Health Care Access Act of 2019.\n\nThe legislation would repeal an arcane rule called the 35-mile rule that bars hospitals from pursuing a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) designation. Currently, a rural hospital must be at least 35 miles away fromanother hospital to receive the CAH designation. If passed into law, this bill would allow states to designate a facility a CAH if it meets all the other requirements. Those requirements include:\nThe hospital must have 25 or fewer acute care inpatient beds\nMust provide 24/7 emergency care services\nThe average length of stay for acute care patients must be 96 hours or less\n\nRural hospitals are an integral part of the rural health care system. We must make sure rural communities have the same access to health care as urban areas, said Rep. Bennie Thompson.\n\nFolks living outside cities must not be left without health care access. We need to act now to remove old, onerous federal regulations and update our laws so that rural communities get the care they need,said Rep. Mark Green.\n\nThe National Rural Health Association has endorsed this bill.\n\nRural hospitals are closing in communities where access to care is needed the most. This important bill will go far in stabilizing the rural hospital closure crisis, by allowing rural hospitals to convert to Critical Access Hospital safety net providers. NRHA applauds Representatives Green and Thompson for fighting to save rural patients' access to care,\"said Alan Morgan, CEO, NRHA.\n\nThe CAH designation reduces the financial vulnerability of rural hospitals and improves access to healthcare by keeping essential services in rural communities. Specifically, Critical Access Hospitals receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare; flexible staffing and services; access to Flex Program educational resources, technical assistance and/or grants; and the ability to include capital improvement costs in allowable costs for determining Medicare reimbursement.\n\nTennessee has seen more rural hospitals close than any other state in the U.S. except Texas, and more are expected to close if action is not taken soon. Half of Mississippi rural hospitals, too, are at risk of closing soon.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://benniethompson.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-bennie-thompson-and-mark-green-introduce-legislation-boost-rural-hospitals"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.255556009709835, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}