Rural MOMS Act of 2026

The Rural MOMS Act of 2026 modifies how Medicare counts hospital beds, specifically excluding labor and delivery rooms from the total number of acute care inpatient beds used to determine if a facility qualifies as a Critical Access Hospital. This change directly affects rural hospitals that provide maternity services by altering the financial thresholds required to maintain their special status under the Medicare program. By removing delivery rooms from the bed count calculation, the bill aims to prevent these facilities from losing their designation solely because they offer childbirth care. The legislation does not change how these hospitals are funded or operated, but rather adjusts the metric used to evaluate their eligibility for critical access benefits.