[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 26 (Thursday, February 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:
  S. 408. A bill to provide for the temporary retention of sole 
community hospital status for a hospital under the Medicare program; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the 
Community Hospital Jobs Act of 2011, legislation that gives Fairmont 
General Hospital, a small community hospital in West Virginia, the 
chance to make an important transition.
  Many of Marion County's residents were born at Fairmont General 
Hospital--founded in 1939. And many of the hospital's 700 employees are 
from the surrounding area. That is why, when Fairmont's leaders told me 
the hospital was going to lose a large portion of its Medicare payments 
because it was going to lose its status as a Sole Community Hospital, I 
knew it was important to make sure Fairmont General maintained its role 
as a vibrant health care leader in our community--and I began looking 
for ways to help.
  Over the last couple of years, I have worked extensively with 
Fairmont officials and with other members of the West Virginia 
delegation to identify possible solutions to Fairmont's problem, which 
the hospital did nothing to cause. First we looked for a regulatory 
solution. However, after speaking extensively with federal and hospital 
officials, scrutinizing every regulation, we determined that without 
intervention from Congress, Fairmont would lose its status as the sole 
community hospital--and with it, additional federal payments that are 
helping the hospital stay afloat and maintain jobs, as many as 70 of 
which may be at stake.
  Once it became clear that legislation was necessary, I got to work 
again on behalf of Fairmont. Last fall, I started to work on a 
legislative solution to allow Fairmont to retain its sole community 
hospital status. And, when the Senate began consideration of an end-of-
the-year health care bill, I pushed for the inclusion of legislative 
language to allow Fairmont to keep its sole community hospital status 
for a three-year transition period. Unfortunately, this language was 
not ultimately included in the final Medicare and Medicaid Extenders 
Act of 2010--but I am not going to give up.
  Fairmont General does not give up on its patients, and I am not 
giving up on Fairmont. That is why I am introducing this important 
legislation today.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Community Hospital Jobs Act.
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