Jenkins bill delaying CMS rule that would harm rural hospitals gains House approval

The House unanimously approved legislation on Wednesday that U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) introduced to delay a rule requiring doctors to be present for minor procedures.

The Continuing Access to Hospitals Act, H.R. 5613, would delay the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule on outpatient procedures.

“Rural healthcare in Kansas and across the country faces enough challenges without government bureaucracy providing one more,” Jenkins said. “For the past three years, CMS has proposed a rule that would require physicians to be present for even straightforward outpatient procedures. However, many rural hospitals do not have the resources to deal with this unnecessary rule, which would impact their ability to offer crucial care services. My legislation would prevent this inflexible mandate from coming into effect and enable critical access hospitals nationwide to continue providing vital care to rural communities.”

More than 1,300 critical access hospitals that serve rural areas don’t have the resources to comply with the CMS rule, Jenkins added.

Jenkins has led similar legislation each year since the rule went into effect in 2014.

U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) said that it has “unfortunately become and annual ritual” for Congress to approve legislation to block the “arbitrary regulation.”

“CMS’ efforts to accommodate the concerns of rural providers hasn’t been to empower these professionals, but to create a limited list of procedures which can be done without a physician on-site,” Smith said. “For this reason, I appreciate the chairman and the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins) for working with me to incorporate language into this bill, which requires MedPAC to report on the economic and staffing impacts of these regulations on rural hospitals.”