Guidance for Rural Emergency Hospital Provisions, Conversion Process and Conditions of Participation

CMS is dedicated to improving access to health care in rural communities and addressing the issues which contribute to health inequities impacting these communities. • The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021 established Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs) as a new Medicare provider and allows REHs to participate in the Medicare program and receive payment for items and services furnished on or after January 1, 2023. • CMS published a final rule establishing REHs as a new Medicare provider and codified the Conditions of Participation (CoP) that REHs must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs along with REH payment policies, quality measures and enrollment policies. • CMS is providing guidance regarding the REH enrollment and conversion process for eligible facilities, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and a newly developed State Operations Manual Appendix (Appendix O) with survey procedures and CoP regulatory text. The interpretive guidance for REHs is pending and will be provided in a future release. • The national survey database system has been updated to include the REH tags and corresponding regulatory text. CMS will release REH Basic Surveyor Training via the Quality Safety Education Portal (QSEP) website when available.