WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman David Valadao (CA-22) joined Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) to reintroduce the Reinforcing Essential Health Systems for Communities Act. This bipartisan bill would create an “essential health system” designation in federal law to make it easier for hospitals in underserved communities to receive funding, grants, and support from the federal government. 

“Central Valley hospitals play a vital role in caring for our communities, but they can’t do that without the resources they need,” said Congressman Valadao. “The bipartisan Reinforcing Essential Health Systems for Communities Act helps better identify rural and underserved hospitals that require critical investments, making it easier to direct federal resources where they’re needed most. Ensuring Central Valley families have access to affordable, quality healthcare is my top priority, and I’ll continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to advance commonsense solutions to meet that goal.”

“The hospitals that care for our most vulnerable neighbors are doing more with less every single day,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “By reintroducing the Reinforcing Essential Health Systems for Communities Act, we’re reaffirming our commitment to ensuring these hospitals are better positioned to receive the resources they need to keep their doors open and their communities healthy. This bill gives Congress a smarter, fairer way to direct support to the health systems that serve as lifelines in cities and towns across the country.”

Background:

Essential community hospitals are critical components of a city, town, or region’s healthcare network, often serving higher numbers of Medicaid, low-income Medicare, and uninsured patients. To open additional pathways for funding, the Reinforcing Essential Health Systems for Communities Act would carve out a new designation, “essential health systems,” in federal law and requires a report on each hospital’s percentile ranking on Disproportionate Patient Percentage (DPP) and Uncompensated Care Payment Factor (UCPF). This change could then be used by lawmakers to better target funding, health equity initiatives, and public health resources to support these nonprofit facilities that serve traditionally vulnerable populations.

A hospital qualifies as an essential health system if it meets the following standards:

• It's a hospital that participates in Medicare’s primary hospital payment program. 
• It's operated by a government entity or is a private, non-profit hospital.
• It meets at least one of the following criteria:
• Serves a high number of low-income patients: At least 35 percent of the hospital’s patients are low-income, based on Medicaid coverage and Medicare patients with limited incomes.
• Provides a significant amount of unpaid care: The hospital delivers at least 0.05 percent of all unpaid hospital care nationwide, placing it among the hospitals that shoulder the greatest burden of uncompensated care in the country.
• Ranks among the state’s leading safety-net hospitals: The hospital is in the top 16 percent in its state for serving vulnerable patients and providing unpaid care. This ensures hospitals in rural areas or states with smaller Medicaid populations are not excluded.
• Hospitals have maintained the above criteria in two out of the last three years.
• Hospitals retain eligibility for five years after designation.

Under this definition, five hospitals in CA-22 would qualify as essential health systems and become eligible for additional federal support, including Kern Medical Center, Adventist Health Hanford, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Sierra View Medical Center, and Adventist Health Delano.

Read the full bill here.

###