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H.R. 5198119th CongressIn committeeLatest action Sep 8, 2025Decoded by AI · checked against the record
Official title: Rural Health Clinic Location Modernization Act of 2025
Introduced:
Read the official bill on Congress.govThe plain-language version leads. The official text is always the reference.
HR 5198 keeps the 50,000-person population cutoff in federal law so smaller clinics don't lose Rural Health Clinic Medicare status when Census definitions change.
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HR 5198 writes the 50,000-person population threshold into federal law to define which areas qualify as rural for Medicare's Rural Health Clinic designation. The change prevents Census Bureau terminology updates from stripping rural status from clinics in communities that have not actually grown more urban. The law would take effect on January 1, 2027.
Patients in smaller towns near the 50,000-population boundary are most directly affected, along with the clinics serving them and their healthcare workers.
Rural Health Clinics receive a higher Medicare reimbursement rate than regular doctor's offices, and clinics that lose the designation would receive less Medicare funding. Reduced payments could lead some clinics to cut services or close, affecting patient access to care in those communities.
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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.