A Kansas Senator introduces legislation aimed at improving emergency medical care in rural communities.

 Senator Jerry Moran has introduced the Rural Emergency Hospital Adjustment Act that would allow previously closed rural hospitals to potentially re-open. Those hospitals could also apply for the Rural Emergency Hospital designation if they can demonstrate they met all eligibility requirements between January 1, 2015 and December 27, 2020.

The R-E-H designation was created as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to enable certain hospitals to convert to the new Medicare provider designation. This designation helps rural hospitals to continue operating with limited services rather than closing. Currently, hospitals are only eligible for the designation if they met the requirements when the legislation was signed into law on December 27, 2020.

Moran says that access to outpatient and emergency services often determines if a rural community can survive.

More than 100 rural hospitals have closed since 2015.