The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) applauds Senator Thune for continuing to fight for access to quality health care in South Dakota by reintroducing the Rural Hospital Regulatory Relief Act. Regulation relief will provide better direct care and access to outpatient therapeutic services in our Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) and other small rural hospitals.
If the regulations released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding “direct supervision” of a physician or qualified non-physician practitioner were to go into effect January 1, 2020; access to outpatient therapeutic services would become a rarity not the norm for the standard of care and treatment in these Critical Access Hospitals and other small rural hospitals.
Workforce in our rural community hospitals and ensuring access to quality health care is a challenge every day. Each time the Federal Government adds more rules and regulations, the more difficult it is for the rural hospitals to stay open. More rules and regulations means more staff time is spent on compliance rather than direct quality care to patients.
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