[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3212 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3212

   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State 
    authority to waive for certain facilities the 35-mile rule for 
   designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 14, 2011

 Mr. Thornberry (for himself, Mr. Donnelly of Indiana, and Mr. Ross of 
  Arkansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore State 
    authority to waive for certain facilities the 35-mile rule for 
   designating critical access hospitals under the Medicare program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. RESTORING STATE AUTHORITY TO WAIVE THE 35-MILE RULE FOR 
              MEDICARE CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITAL DESIGNATIONS.

    Section 1820(c)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-
4(c)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B)(i)(II), by inserting ``or, subject 
        to subparagraph (F), on or after the date of enactment of the 
        CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2011'' after ``January 
        1, 2006,''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(F) Limitations for certain new designations.--A 
                State may not use the authority under subparagraph 
                (B)(i)(II) to designate a facility as a critical access 
                hospital on or after the date of enactment of the CAH 
                Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2011 unless each of 
                the following requirements is met:
                            ``(i) As of the date of the enactment of 
                        the CAH Designation Waiver Authority Act of 
                        2011, the facility was assigned a Medicare 
                        provider number as an acute inpatient hospital.
                            ``(ii) The Secretary determines that such 
                        designation would not result in the total 
                        number of facilities that have been designated 
                        as critical access hospitals in all States on 
                        or after the date of enactment of the CAH 
                        Designation Waiver Authority Act of 2011 using 
                        the authority under subparagraph (B)(i)(II) 
                        being greater than a number equal to 10 percent 
                        of the total number of acute inpatient 
                        hospitals that were designated as critical 
                        access hospitals in all States as of March 31, 
                        2011.''.
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