Creating Capacity for Communities in Need Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3547 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive limitations on expansion of facility capacity under rural provider and hospital exception to ownership or investment prohibition during coronavirus 2020 emer- gency period. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 19, 2020 Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to waive limitations on expansion of facility capacity under rural provider and hospital exception to ownership or invest- ment prohibition during coronavirus 2020 emergency pe- riod. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Capacity for 4 Communities in Need Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3547.IS S3547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3547 IS SEC. 2. WAIVER OF LIMITATIONS ON EXPANSION OF FACIL- 1 ITY CAPACITY UNDER RURAL PROVIDER AND 2 HOSPITAL EXCEPTION TO OWNERSHIP OR IN- 3 VESTMENT PROHIBITION DURING CORONAVI- 4 RUS 2020 EMERGENCY PERIOD. 5 Section 1877(i)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 6 U.S.C. 1395nn(i)(1)(B)) is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘CAPACITY.—Except as provided 8 in paragraph (3), the number’’ and inserting ‘‘CA- 9 PACITY’’.— 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 11 vided in paragraph (3) and subject to 12 clause (ii), the number’’; and 13 (2) by adding at the end the following new 14 clause: 15 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION DURING 16 CORONAVIRUS 2020 EMERGENCY PERIOD.— 17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The limita- 18 tion under clause (i) shall not apply 19 with respect to any increase in the 20 number of operating rooms, procedure 21 rooms, or beds for which a hospital is 22 licensed during the coronavirus 2020 23 emergency period, or for which the 24 hospital begins construction during 25 the coronavirus 2020 emergency pe- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3547.IS S3547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3547 IS riod regardless of whether the hospital 1 is an applicable hospital (as defined in 2 paragraph (3)(E)) or is a high Med- 3 icaid facility described in paragraph 4 (3)(F), and the hospital’s baseline 5 number of operating rooms, procedure 6 rooms, and beds for purposes of com- 7 pliance with this subparagraph shall 8 be automatically modified to reflect 9 such increase on a permanent basis. 10 ‘‘(II) CORONAVIRUS 2020 EMER- 11 GENCY PERIOD DEFINED.—For pur- 12 poses of this clause, the ‘coronavirus 13 2020 emergency period’ is the period 14 beginning on March 13, 2020, and 15 ending on the last day on which the 16 emergency declared by the President 17 under section 501 of the Robert T. 18 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 19 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 20 5191) with respect to SARS–C0V–2 21 and coronavirus disease 2019 (abbre- 22 viated as COVID–19) is in effect.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3547.IS S3547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS