HR 9642
Cleared committee
Allows certain small rural and critical access hospitals to be paid under Medicare Part A on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesiologist services, if they perform 800 or fewer surgeries requiring anesthesia and their anesthesiologists agree not to bill Part B separately.
Official title: Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act
Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions
House
Introduced
13-JUL-2026
Referred
13-JUL-2026
Approved by committee
15-JUL-2026
- Covers rural hospitals and critical access hospitals that performed 800 or fewer surgical procedures requiring anesthesia, or a higher number the Secretary sets.
- Limits eligible hospitals to those employing or contracting with no more than one full-time equivalent anesthesiologist, who must agree not to bill Part B for their services at the hospital.
- Starts for cost reporting periods beginning one year after enactment, with the 800-procedure test applied again each year after 2027.
- Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to revise Medicare regulations so these anesthesia services are excluded from the definition of physicians' services.
Current. The Congressional Research Service's summary covers the bill's latest wording (Introduced in House, 13-JUL-2026).
CRS is the Library of Congress's nonpartisan research office. Read it on congress.gov- Ways and Means Committee (House)
Health
■ 6 R■ 4 D
6 Republicans