National Rural Health Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, 49 years ago in Port Angeles, Washington, I was born in what was then called Olympic Memorial Hospital. Over the years, members of my family and I received good, quality care from what is now known as Olympic Medical Center and its well-trained physicians and nurses, and from a staff that genuinely cares about the community.

The future of healthcare in rural communities faces extraordinary challenges that threaten the ability of folks to access the care that they need and that they deserve.

Unfortunately, the reality for many Americans in rural areas when it comes to healthcare is a story of gaps and barriers.

This isn't just a problem for the Olympic Peninsula. Rural populations often bear the brunt of healthcare disparities. They are usually older, have less income, and often have complex health issues.

These factors burden rural hospitals, many of which are already buckling under pressure. In fact, today the rural hospital closure crisis threatens more than 400 rural hospitals nationwide with imminent closure.

For folks on the Olympic Peninsula, quality care should be readily accessible, not a service only available in the shadow of the Space Needle.

No matter who you are or where you are from, you ought to be able to find quality, affordable medical care close to home.

This rural-urban healthcare divide is a crisis that demands attention from Congress. An important piece of the puzzle is addressing the site neutral payment policy, which has significantly impacted rural hospitals like Olympic Medical Center.

This policy, originally intended to equalize payment rates between hospitals and outpatient clinics, often disadvantages rural hospitals, which rely on higher reimbursement rates to maintain operations and provide essential services.

By advocating for an exemption for rural Sole Community Hospitals from this policy, we can ensure these vital institutions receive adequate funding.

In addition, in July I introduced a bipartisan bill known as the Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program. This bipartisan effort would provide targeted, in-depth technical assistance to vulnerable hospitals and communities struggling to maintain healthcare services.

That means helping to prevent closures, strengthening essential healthcare services in rural communities, and improving financial and operational performance.

Our bill seeks to alleviate the strain felt by many rural providers by authorizing new Federal funding to support improvements to these crucial facilities, aiming to ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, can stay just as healthy as someone living in a big city.

Consider the hypothetical, but very real situation, of an older patient in Port Townsend who receives chemotherapy multiple times a week at Jefferson Healthcare or the pregnant mother in Elma receiving prenatal and obstetric care at Summit Pacific Medical Center.

Without strong rural hospitals, these patients and others may face a long and burdensome commute to an urban hospital or go without care entirely.

The Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program aims to mitigate these very real scenarios and keep facilities open and thriving, ensuring that everyone can access medical care near home.

Our bill is important in bridging the gap of healthcare disparities that we see every day. It aims to prevent the unfortunate and unnecessary closure of rural hospitals and to ensure that folks in rural communities receive the care that they need and that they deserve without the necessity of long-distance travel or facing financial ruin.

It isn't just about keeping open facilities like Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles and Peninsula Community Health Services in rural Kitsap, Mason, and Pierce Counties.

It is about keeping people healthy, employed with good-paying jobs, and improving care in rural areas where the need is most critical.

The Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program is a commitment to equity, a promise of access, and a crucial step toward ensuring that going forward, quality healthcare isn't a privilege confined to big cities.

We deserve a future where care is not constrained by geography but is easily affordable and accessible for all. Again, I thank my colleague for organizing this Special Order.

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