ARCH Act

Key Points

• Extends Medicare’s special extra payments for certain small rural hospitals and low-volume hospitals from early 2025 out to 2031.
• This is meant to help rural hospitals keep their doors open by giving them steadier Medicare funding when they serve fewer patients.
• It also tells the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress within 180 days on how Medicare labels different kinds of rural hospitals and where those labels overlap.
• The report must suggest ways to simplify the rural hospital categories and propose changes that could improve rural hospitals’ finances and patients’ access to care.
• If you live in a rural area, this could reduce the risk of losing local hospital services, like emergency care or inpatient beds, due to financial strain.