WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today announced her support for two bills to better protect health care for patients and facilities in rural areas, and make sure individuals in these communities in North Dakota and across the country have access to quality health care.

Heitkamp cosponsored two bills that would make sure current regulations don’t place undue burdens on rural health care facilities or families and, as a result, better support individuals and families living in rural communities. A strong advocate for rural America, Heitkamp is working to make sure health care regulations support rural communities as much as they do other areas of the country.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to health care doesn’t work in our country, especially in rural communities,” said Heitkamp. “Simply because a senior lives in a more remote place than Fargo or Bismarck shouldn’t mean he or she can’t have access to high-quality health care near their home. These bills would eliminate burdensome rules that have hampered health providers in North Dakota’s rural communities and may have prevented folks from getting the care they need. Having grown up in the rural town of Mantador, I saw firsthand just how critical it is to support high-quality health providers who treat patients where they live.”

A regulation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires physicians in Critical Access Hospitals – which provide emergency care in rural areas – to predict and certify that a patient will be discharged or transferred to another hospital within 96 hours after admission. Heitkamp helped introduce the Critical Access Relief Act which would eliminate this requirement, removing the burden from providers, making sure small health facilities are paid for the care they provide, and enabling patients to get the care they need at any one of North Dakota’s 36 Critical Access Hospitals.

An additional CMS regulation requires outpatient therapeutic services – such as demonstrating the use of an inhaler and certain behavioral health assessments – to be completed with a physician physically present to supervise these services. This action can be difficult for rural health facilities, as time and budgets don’t always allow for physicians to be present. Heitkamp cosponsored the Protecting Access to Rural Therapy Services (PARTS) Act, which would enable outpatient therapeutic services to be rendered without requiring the supervising physician to be physically present, better meeting the needs of rural health providers and their patients.

Heitkamp has been a leader in working to expand and improve access to health care in rural communities for veterans, Native Americans, and families across North Dakota and the country. She has continued to press other Senators and top Administration officials to support rural health care providers and make sure they have the tools to meet the health care needs of rural communities.

Last October, Heitkamp led a bipartisan group of Senators in calling on the Administration to consider the impact its health care policies could have on rural communities before finalizing federal rules.

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