Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program Reauthorization
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program Reauthorization
This bill extends the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program for an additional five years. The program tests the feasibility of cost-based reimbursement under Medicare for small rural hospitals that are too large to qualify for special payment as critical access hospitals.
The bill specifies that hospitals that participate in the program between December 30, 2024, and January 1, 2027, may continue to participate during the five-year extension period.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 21, 2026. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 21, 2026: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Randy Feenstra (R-IA) introduced it on May 21, 2026, and 20 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 9 Democrats, 11 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 21, 2026, 112 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 112 days ago, on May 21, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers