The 25-bed hospital, part of Burlington, Vt.-based UVM Health Network, applied for CAH status with state and federal regulators in April. A months-long review and approval process followed, including a Joint Commission survey. It announced it received final approval from CMS for CAH status Nov. 20.
CAH designation provides hospitals with enhanced reimbursement rates — 101 percent of reasonable costs for most inpatient and outpatient services — to maintain essential healthcare services in rural communities.
“Our hospital already operates like a critical access hospital in many ways — but we don’t get the financial benefits that critical access hospitals enjoy,” said Alice Hyde President Michelle LeBeau. “Members of our community can rest assured that critical access status won’t reduce services or change the way our patients receive care. This is about doing everything we can to ensure we are here always to provide the care our community needs.”
CAH hospitals must be located in a rural area more than 35 miles from the next nearest hospital; have a maximum of 25 inpatient beds; maintain an average length of stay of 96 hours or less for acute inpatient care; and provide 24-hour emergency care seven days a week, among other requirements.
The hospital’s transition earned bipartisan support from lawmakers, including those who had drafted and passed 2021 legislation to protect the CAH designation after a 2015 CMS policy change that narrowed the eligibility criteria.
The new designation will not change the scope of services Alice Hyde Medical Center currently offers or the care available at its on- or off-campus facilities.
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