# Save America's Rural Hospitals Act: What You Need to Know

Rural hospitals across America are closing at an alarming rate, and this bill aims to stop that trend by giving these hospitals more money from Medicare and Medicaid. As of 2025, 151 rural hospitals have already shut down, and another 216 are considered at serious risk of closure. Since more than 60 million Americans live in rural areas and depend on these hospitals for emergency care and other medical services, losing them would be devastating. This bill tries to prevent those closures by adjusting how the government pays rural hospitals and making it easier for them to operate.

The bill focuses on four main areas. First, it protects rural hospitals from automatic budget cuts that would otherwise reduce their Medicare payments. It also restores some money that was previously cut from how much hospitals get reimbursed when patients can't pay their bills. For certain types of rural hospitals—like critical access hospitals and those serving mostly Medicare patients—the bill makes permanent some temporary payment increases that were set to expire. These changes mean rural hospitals will receive more stable, predictable funding to keep their doors open. The bill also extends higher payments for ambulance services in rural areas and makes it permanent for rural clinics to offer telehealth services, which helps patients access care without traveling long distances.

Second, the bill addresses fairness for rural patients. It equalizes what Medicare patients have to pay out-of-pocket when they use critical access hospitals, so rural seniors don't face higher costs than their urban counterparts. Third, it reduces red tape by eliminating some strict rules that rural hospitals must follow, giving them more flexibility in how they operate. Finally, the bill provides grants to help rural hospitals plan for their future and adapt to changing healthcare needs. Overall, this legislation is designed to keep rural hospitals financially stable so they can continue serving their communities, which is especially important in emergencies when the nearest hospital might be hours away.