Senators representing rural states and members of Congress from rural districts support legislation that would increase revenues for rural hospitals. (Dog bites man!)
Eric Pianin and Mary Agnes Carey, in an informative article written for Kaiser Health News, describe how lawmakers from rural states and congressional districts are attempting to direct extra Medicare revenues towards rural hospitals by having those institutions designated as "Critical Access Hospitals." The designation "critical access" was originally intended to offer support to a few dozen small rural institutions that were more than 35 miles away from any other hospital and which would serve mainly as transport points – patients who were seriously injured or ill would be stabilized at these access points and transferred to larger hospitals. The program has evolved to the point that one-fifth of all of the hospitals in the United States are now designated "critical access hospitals," entitling them to additional Medicare funding. These hospitals don't simply transport seriously ill patients – they treat them, thus injecting money into local economies. Lawmakers representing rural areas want to increase the numbers of these hospitals and allow them to grow larger and still qualify for extra funding. Pianin and Carey identify Mark Pryor (D-AR), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) as seeking an expansion of this program.
This could emerge as an important element to winning support for health care financing reform. In Monday's Politico Jeanne Cummings describes Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), as "a moderate who could become a critical swing vote," and that:
he has serious reservations about how the reform proposals will affect the rural hospitals in his district — and he knows he isn’t alone.
Sections 1191-1196 of the House bill relate to rural access hospitals. The CBO report scoring the bill indicates that these sections of the bill contain about $2 billion in funding for extension of various programs relating to these hospitals. Rural lawmakers will likely focus on these provisions of the bill in their attempt to promote access to health care within local communities and stimulate the economy of rural areas.
Visit Professor Huhn's website on health care financing reform for links to information about proposed legislation, studies and reports, public agencies, and private organizations concerned with this issue.
