Bipartisan legislation recently introduced by U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) aims to strengthen the rural health care delivery system and provide relief to rural hospitals and medical providers.
The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act (R-HoPE Act), S. 3435, would bring Medicare hospital payments for rural hospitals in line with urban medical centers and extend incentive payments to doctors in rural areas.
“Our rural communities face unique needs and often immense hurdles in regards to continuing to provide top-notch care,” Roberts, the co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Care Caucus, said. “The R-HoPE Act recognizes that rural health care providers have very different needs than their urban counterparts and that health care is not one size fits all.”
U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Al Franken (D-MN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) joined Roberts in introducing the R-HoPE Act, named in honor of former Wyoming senator and Senate Rural Health Care Caucus Chairman Craig Thomas.
Barrasso said, “Our bill will help create an accessible rural healthcare system by putting our rural providers on a level playing field with other doctors and hospitals across the country. Most importantly, this bill ensures that folks in rural states like Wyoming have access to medical care as close to home as possible.”
The legislation also would provide a capital infrastructure loan program to help rural facilities improve deteriorating facilities and infrastructure, and allow marriage and family therapists and licensed counselors to bill Medicare at the same rate as social workers. Additionally, the bill would create a pilot program to encourage home health agencies to invest in home monitoring and communications technology.