The program aims to offer small hospitals in rural areas to serve residents that would otherwise be a long distance from emergency care.
In CAHs with 10 or fewer beds, a registered nurse with training in emergency care is allowed to fulfill the role of the on-call physician.
[6] Pharmaceutical companies are legally required to pay for a portion of the medications used by critical access hospitals as part of the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
A review of CAHs in the early 2000s counted 26% of the hospitals providing intensive care-level treatment to at least one patient.
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 increased reimbursement for CAHs to 101% of care costs.