Install
Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026
A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to count a period of receipt of outpatient observation services in a hospital toward satisfying the 3-day inpatient hospital requirement for coverage of skilled nursing facility services under Medicare.
- Introduced
- Committee
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- To President
- Became law
Summary
Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026
This bill deems an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital as an inpatient for purposes of satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital-stay requirement with respect to Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility (SNF) services. (Generally, individuals must have been an inpatient at a hospital for at least three days in order to qualify for SNF services. An individual's time spent under observation at a hospital for purposes of determining whether the individual should be admitted does not count towards this requirement.)
Summary by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Actions
- May 21, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- May 21, 2026 Introduced in Senate
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