The bipartisan bill aims to provide more resources to rural hospitals at risk of closing. The act allows for expanded services, including psychiatric and obstetric care, at these facilities. It also clarifies funding eligibility for programs like Medicaid and Small Rural Hospital Improvement grants. Rural hospitals in Kansas could soon have expanded resources and be less at risk of closing. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and U.S. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, introduced the Rural Emergency Hospital Improvement Act, also dubbed REH 2.0.

The bill would allow more Critical Access Hospitals and rural hospitals at risk of closure to sustain health care services in rural communities, and it would make technical improvements to the designation. Along with REH 2.0, Moran has spent the last year working at the federal level to get Kansas rural hospitals more Medicaid reimbursements. Now his multi-tiered efforts can work in tandem to improve rural hospitals viability. “I have visited every hospital in Kansas numerous times, and these conversations help guide my efforts to make certain health care providers across our state have the support they need to provide critical services to patients in their communities,” said Moran in a written statement. “During these visits, providers shared with me their recommendations for strengthening the Rural Emergency Hospital designation so it can better support the struggli…