1.1                             A resolution 
  1.2             memorializing Congress to enact legislation to create 
  1.3             a national limited service hospital program for rural 
  1.4             primary care hospitals. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, rural hospitals are an integral part of the health 
  1.7   care delivery system and essential to maintaining access to 
  1.8   emergency medical care; 
  1.9      WHEREAS, rural health care access must be assured to all 
  1.10  United States citizens; 
  1.11     WHEREAS, there are many rural communities in Minnesota and 
  1.12  in other states across the nation that can no longer support a 
  1.13  traditional acute-care hospital and thus are in danger of losing 
  1.14  access to basic health care services; 
  1.15     WHEREAS, enactment of legislation authorizing rural primary 
  1.16  care hospital licensing and reimbursement is an important method 
  1.17  of maintaining and improving access to health care in rural 
  1.18  areas and giving small, rural hospitals the flexibility needed 
  1.19  to better meet community needs; 
  1.20     WHEREAS, federal grant funding would be helpful for 
  1.21  implementing a national limited service hospital program and 
  1.22  converting rural acute care hospitals to primary care hospitals 
  1.23  at the state and local level; 
  1.24     WHEREAS, such rural primary care hospitals should have the 
  1.25  following features: 
  2.1      (1) be located in a rural area and more than 20 miles from 
  2.2   the next nearest hospital or be certified by the state as a 
  2.3   necessary provider of health care services through a rural 
  2.4   health plan; 
  2.5      (2) provide inpatient care, ambulatory and primary care, 
  2.6   basic laboratory services, basic radiology services, and 
  2.7   medication management, and make available emergency care on a 
  2.8   24-hour-a-day basis; 
  2.9      (3) be staffed 24 hours a day by a registered nurse when 
  2.10  occupied by one or more inpatients; 
  2.11     (4) have a medical staff composed of at least one 
  2.12  physician, with nurse practitioners and physician assistants 
  2.13  also on the medical staff to admit, treat, and discharge 
  2.14  patients; 
  2.15     (5) be reimbursed on a reasonable cost basis; 
  2.16     (6) have maximum restrictions on length of stay of an 
  2.17  average of 72 hours; and 
  2.18     (7) have requirements for size limitations, referral 
  2.19  relationships, and quality assurance determined by the states 
  2.20  through a rural health planning process; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.21     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the State 
  2.22  of Minnesota that it apply to Congress to speedily enact 
  2.23  legislation to create a national limited service hospital 
  2.24  program for rural primary care hospitals. 
  2.25     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State be 
  2.26  directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to 
  2.27  the State of Minnesota Congressional Delegation, President of 
  2.28  the United States, President and Secretary of the Senate, 
  2.29  Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives, and Chairs of 
  2.30  the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means 
  2.31  Committee.