Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) recently introduced the Rural Hospital Support Act, which would permanently extend two key Medicare rural hospital programs and establish a new rebasing year. “As rural America rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, now is not the time to let lifeline programs lapse,” says NRHA CEO Alan Morgan. “Reauthorization is critical to ensuring stability for the rural health safety net.” Complementary legislation, the bipartisan Save America’s Rural Hospitals Act, was recently introduced to the 117th Congress with the goal to raise the rural health safety net, which is crucial to the survival of rural communities.
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