WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) this week joined a bipartisan group of her Senate colleagues in introducing legislation to protect some rural health clinics in West Virginia from a reduction in reimbursement funds.
The Rural Health Clinic Protection Act will fix a technical error that unintentionally failed to grandfather in rural health clinics established during 2020 into a new, comprehensive payment system.
“In states like West Virginia, rural health clinics remain a primary health care source for many,” Senator Capito said. “This bill will make the necessary changes to ensure they are receiving the funding they need to continue to provide much-needed care now and in the future.”
BACKGROUND:
In December 2020, Congress passed comprehensive payment reform for rural health clinics, extended the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration program, passed comprehensive payment reform for rural health clinics and secured a new rural emergency hospital designation under Medicare.
The previous law unintentionally failed to grandfather provider-based rural health clinics established during 2020 into the new payment system. These changes are necessary to ensure that clinics that applied to become a rural health clinic as of December 31, 2020 would be eligible for the updated payment system. The Rural Health Clinic Protection Act corrects this by updating the provider-based facility grandfather date from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020.
The full text of the bill can be found here.
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