S.Amdt. 4429

SA 4429. Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. Lankford) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr.
Reed and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military activities of the
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. ASSISTANCE IN THE TRANSITION OF A CERTAIN HOSPITAL
TO A MEDICARE RURAL EMERGENCY HOSPITAL.

(a) Special Rule.--In the case of a critical access
hospital (as defined in section 1861(mm) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(mm)) with a Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services certification number of 371338,
the following shall apply:
(1) Pursuant to the June 11, 2021, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services letter sent to the critical access
hospital--
(A) the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to
in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall suspend the
running of the twenty-four month extension mentioned in the
October 15, 2019, letter to the hospital during the COVID-19
public health emergency; and
(B) the hospital shall have 19.7 months after the end of
the COVID-19 public health emergency to notify the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the hospital's intent to
either convert to an acute care hospital, transition to a
rural emergency hospital under section 1861(kkk) of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)) (if the hospital
qualifies as such), or terminate as a critical access
hospital.
(2) Prior to the end of the 19.7 months described in
paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall not take an adverse
redesignation action with respect to the critical access
hospital status of the hospital as long as the hospital
continues to meet all of the requirements for designation as
a critical access hospital other than the distance
requirement under section 1820(c)(2)(B)(i) of such Act (42
U.S.C. 1395i-4(c)(2)(B)(i)).
(3) If, prior to the end of the 19.7 months described in
paragraph (1)(B), the critical access hospital notifies the
Secretary of the hospital's intention to transition to a
rural emergency hospital, the Secretary--
(A) shall give priority to the processing of the request
for such transition; and
(B) shall not take an adverse redesignation action with
respect to the critical access hospital status of the
hospital prior to the later of--
(i) the end of the 19.7 months described in paragraph
(1)(B); or
(ii) the date the Secretary makes a final determination
with respect to such request.
(b) Timeline for Regulations.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
(A) not later than July 1, 2022, promulgate a proposed rule
to carry out the provisions of, and amendments made by,
section 125 of division CC of the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260); and
(B) not later than November 1, 2022, promulgate a final
rule to carry out such provisions and amendments.
(2) Additional information.--The Secretary shall ensure
that the proposed and final rules required under paragraph
(1) contain a description of the additional information that
will be required under section 1861(kkk)(4) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(kkk)(4)).
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