Bill > HR7486

This bill, titled the "Protecting Hospitals from Disaster Act of 2026," aims to bolster the resilience of healthcare facilities against extreme weather events by amending the Social Security Act. It mandates that Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), which are entities that contract with Medicare to improve the quality of care, must provide support to "facility-based providers." A facility-based provider is defined broadly to include various types of healthcare institutions such as hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, critical access hospitals, long-term care hospitals, rural emergency hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. This support is specifically intended to help these providers prepare for and respond to extreme weather, thereby reducing physical and chronic risks to both the facilities and their patients. To fund this initiative, the bill authorizes the transfer of $50,000,000 from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Program Management Account for fiscal year 2026, with these funds remaining available until spent.

Budget and Finance

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7486/all-info