[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S136-S137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2952. Mr. McCONNELL (for Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Bennet, 
Mr. Isakson, and Mr. Sanders)) proposed an amendment to the bill S. 
607, to provide for a five-year extension of the Medicare rural 
community hospital demonstration program; as follows:

       Strike section 2 and insert the following:

     SEC. 2. FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION OF THE RURAL COMMUNITY HOSPITAL 
                   DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

       (a) Extension.--Section 410A of the Medicare Prescription 
     Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 
     108-173; 42 U.S.C. 1395ww note), as amended by sections 3123 
     and 10313 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
     (Public Law 111-148), is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(5), by striking ``5-year extension 
     period'' and inserting ``10-year extension period''; and
       (2) in subsection (g)--
       (A) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Five-Year'' 
     and inserting ``Ten-Year'';
       (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``additional 5-year'' and 
     inserting ``additional 10-year'';

[[Page S137]]

       (C) by striking ``5-year extension period'' and inserting 
     ``10-year extension period'' each place it appears;
       (D) in paragraph (4)(B)--
       (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting ``each 
     5-year period in'' after ``hospital during''; and
       (ii) in clause (i), by inserting ``each applicable 5-year 
     period in'' after ``the first day of''; and
       (E) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
       ``(5) Other hospitals in demonstration program.--During the 
     second 5 years of the 10-year extension period, the Secretary 
     shall apply the provisions of paragraph (4) to rural 
     community hospitals that are not described in paragraph (4) 
     but are participating in the demonstration program under this 
     section as of December 30, 2014, in a similar manner as such 
     provisions apply to rural community hospitals described in 
     paragraph (4).
       ``(6) Expansion of demonstration program to rural areas in 
     any state.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall, notwithstanding 
     subsection (a)(2) or paragraph (2) of this subsection, not 
     later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this 
     paragraph, issue a solicitation for applications to select up 
     to the maximum number of additional rural community hospitals 
     located in any State to participate in the demonstration 
     program under this section for the second 5 years of the 10-
     year extension period without exceeding the limitation under 
     paragraph (3) of this subsection.
       ``(B) Priority.--In determining which rural community 
     hospitals that submitted an application pursuant to the 
     solicitation under subparagraph (A) to select for 
     participation in the demonstration program, the Secretary--
       ``(i) shall give priority to rural community hospitals 
     located in one of the 20 States with the lowest population 
     densities (as determined by the Secretary using the 2015 
     Statistical Abstract of the United States); and
       ``(ii) may consider--

       ``(I) closures of hospitals located in rural areas in the 
     State in which the rural community hospital is located during 
     the 5-year period immediately preceding the date of the 
     enactment of this paragraph; and
       ``(II) the population density of the State in which the 
     rural community hospital is located.''.

       (b) Change in Timing for Report.--Subsection (e) of such 
     section 410A is amended--
       (1) by striking ``Not later than 6 months after the 
     completion of the demonstration program under this section'' 
     and inserting ``Not later than August 1, 2018''; and
       (2) by striking ``such program'' and inserting ``the 
     demonstration program under this section''.

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