Critical access keeping rural hospitals afloat

'Critical Access' Hospitals are given a federal designation that allows it to bill Medicare for 101% of its outpatient, inpatient, laboratory, physical therapy, and post-acute care costs. The critical access hospital program was designed to ensure access to emergency, primary, and acute care in rural areas across the country. In Kansas alone, almost all of the state's rural hospitals are now critical access hospitals, and many are prospering.