In response to the wave of rural hospital closures and financial difficulties, Congress created a new Medicare provider designation, the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH), notes Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath. The new designation was created in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, enacted December 27, 2020.
REHs are designed to maintain critical emergency department and outpatient services in communities where small local hospitals or critical access hospitals are threatened with closure due to financial difficulties. The idea is that this new designation will allow some rural hospitals to continue operating outpatient and emergency services by cutting the costs it takes to operate inpatient services and through additional financial support from CMS. Some rural hospitals have already started the process of converting into an REH. However, for most facilities, the decision to convert will be difficult and nuanced. Read more.
