Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Support Critical Access Hospitals

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced the Rural Hospital Flexibility Act, which would permanently reauthorize and modernize the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. This program provides states with funding to support rural hospitals through training, technical support, and equipment for improving health care for patients, including emergency medical care.

The Rural Hospital Flexibility Program supports Critical Access Hospitals – small, rural hospitals that have 25 beds or less and are located either more than 35 miles from the nearest hospital or more than 15 miles in areas with mountainous terrain or only secondary roads. Nevada has 13 Critical Access Hospitals located throughout the state, which serve nearly 300,000 people, approximately 10% of the state’s population.

“Every Nevadan needs access to quality health care, no matter where they live. That’s why we must reauthorize the Rural Hospital Flex Program, which delivers vital funding and technical resources to help critical access hospitals improve the rural health care system,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “I’ll never stop fighting to keep communities in every corner of the Silver State healthy.”

“For the past 25 years, the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program or “Flex Program” has supported a wide-range of financial and operational assistance to Nevada’s thirteen Critical Access Hospitals, said Dr. John Packham, Associate Dean for Statewide Initiatives at UNR School of Medicine. “The Rural Hospital Flexibility Act of 2024 will allow the Nevada State Office of Rural Health and its partners to continue to provide vital technical assistance and support to our state’s rural hospitals and clinics, and thus ensure the economic viability of health care facilities serving the 300,000 rural and frontier residents in Nevada.”

“It is crucial that we continue to support our rural hospitals so that all Granite Staters can have access to high-quality, affordable health care,” said Senator Hassan. “The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program has helped hospitals in New Hampshire improve the health care that patients receive, and I will work with my colleagues to pass this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to renew and modernize these grants so that New Hampshire’s rural hospitals have the support, training, and equipment to provide the best possible care.

“Wyoming’s rural hospitals understand best what their patients and communities need. The Rural Flex program gives them the flexibility they need to keep their doors open,” said Senator Barrasso. “Rural hospitals use this vital program to provide specialized staff training, update technological equipment, and improve the quality of care for patients. Our legislation will help free America’s rural hospitals from one-size-fits-all Washington regulations.”

“For over 25 years, the FLEX program has been instrumental in supporting rural hospitals and healthcare providers, ensuring access to quality care for millions of Americans,” said Senator Blackburn. “The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Reauthorization Act would build on this legacy by modernizing the program to support quality improvement, behavioral health services, telehealth, and innovative care models. This reauthorization reflects our commitment to ensuring that rural hospitals and clinics can continue to serve as lifelines for their communities, providing high-quality, sustainable care well into the future.”

“The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) thanks Senators Hassan, Barrasso, Cortez Masto, and Blackburn for their efforts to reauthorize the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility program. Flex is instrumental in serving critical access hospitals across the country and ensuring they are able to support the health needs of their communities. We appreciate the Senators’ continued dedication to supporting rural health care,” said Alan Morgan, CEO of The National Rural Health Association.

Senator Cortez Masto has consistently fought to ensure that Nevadans can access quality, affordable health care — including in rural communities. She’s pushed bipartisan legislation to guarantee lifesaving emergency services in rural communities and extend and increase Medicare payments for emergency ambulances everywhere. She’s passed a law to make sure ambulance providers are adequately reimbursed for providing critical services, fought to protect the Medicare Advantage program for millions of seniors and Americans with disabilities, and introduced legislation to keep labor and delivery units open in rural and underserved hospitals. She has also championed the Inflation Reduction Act, which gives Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices, caps drug costs and limits egregious price hikes by drug manufacturers.