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H.R. 5199119th CongressIn committeeLatest action Sep 8, 2025Decoded by AI · checked against the record
Official title: Modernizing Rural Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner Utilization Act of 2025
Introduced:
Read the official bill on Congress.govThe plain-language version leads. The official text is always the reference.
Starting in 2027, rural health clinics can use a physician assistant or nurse practitioner — not just a doctor — to meet Medicare's staffing rule.
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Medicare currently requires certain rural health clinics to have a formal arrangement with a physician to qualify for coverage. This bill allows clinics that are not physician-directed to instead have that arrangement with a physician assistant or nurse practitioner, as long as it follows state law. The change takes effect January 1, 2027.
This affects rural health clinics that are not physician-directed, the physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work in them, and patients in rural communities who rely on those clinics.
Clinics that cannot secure a physician arrangement currently may not qualify for Medicare coverage. Under the new rule, those same clinics could meet the requirement through a PA or NP instead.
AI-drafted summary. Verify it against the official text before you act on it. Read the official bill on Congress.gov
Right now: a House committee is reviewing it. If the Senate changes it, it goes back to the House before reaching the President.
Latest action: — Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.