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Rural Health Information Hub

The Rural Emergency Hospital (REH), a New Hospital Type

Date:
Duration: approximately minutes

Featured Speakers

Jeff Colyer Jeff Colyer, MD, Chair, National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services; Former Governor of Kansas
Kari Bruffett Kari Bruffett, Vice President for Policy, Kansas Health Institute
Mark Holmes Mark Holmes, Ph.D., Director, Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina

In December 2020 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021, Congress created a new type of Medicare provider called the Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) as a response to loss of emergency services in rural areas due to hospital closures. The new designation will allow a Critical Access Hospital or small rural hospital with no more than 50 beds to convert to an REH. The REH will be a rural hospital that does not provide inpatient care but will provide 24-hour emergency services. By creating the REH, Congress has established the first new rural provider type since the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) was created in 1997.

This webinar will highlight a new report from the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services that summarizes the statutory requirements for REHs, examines implications for various federal entities likely to be involved in their administration, and makes recommendations to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to ensure the success of the REH model.