Save Struggling Hospitals Act (S. 4233)

Original title: Save Struggling Hospitals Act

Last action · March 26, 2026: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.Sponsors: Mark Warner and 6 others

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓

Introduced

Committee

Floor Vote

Passed

Law

Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.

Public stanceCommunity reactions are separate from the official record and reporting.

What This Bill Would Do

This bill proposes to permanently a Medicare policy that adjusts wage index payments for hospitals with lower-than-average labor costs. It aims to stabilize funding for these facilities by ensuring their wage index is increased based on the 25th percentile of all hospitals, while maintaining ity.

Why it matters

This bill changes how Medicare calculates reimbursement rates for hospitals with low labor costs, potentially increasing federal payments to those facilities starting from October 1, 2019, while protecting other hospitals from significant payment decreases.

Who It Would Affect

Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.

Directly affected

Low-wage index hospitals

These facilities are eligible for increased Medicare wage index adjustments under the proposed formula.

Directly affected

Medicare-participating hospitals

All hospitals are subject to the budget neutrality requirements and potential index adjustments mandated by the bill.

Key Facts

The bill mandates an area wage index increase for hospitals whose index falls below the 25th percentile.
The increase is calculated as 1/2 of the difference between the hospital's current index and the 25th percentile index.
The policy is retroactive for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2019.
The adjustments must be applied in a budget-neutral manner.

Show all 6 facts

Budget neutrality adjustments cannot decrease the wage index for hospitals below the 75th percentile.
The resulting wage index for any hospital cannot be less than 95% of the index applied in the previous fiscal year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which hospitals are affected by this bill?

Hospitals with an below the 25th percentile of all hospitals are eligible for an increase.

Does this bill increase the total amount of money Medicare spends?

No, the bill requires that the adjustments be applied in a budget-neutral manner.

Will this cause other hospitals to lose funding?

The bill includes protections ensuring that ity adjustments cannot lower the wage index for hospitals below the 75th percentile, and no hospital's index can drop below 95% of the previous year's level.

What else do you want to know?

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Follow the record

Votes, people, money & the original source

Where This Stands

Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.

Procedural history

2 actions

Mar 26, 2026SenateCommittee
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Mar 26, 2026SenateIntroduced
Introduced in Senate

Version history

Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.

View official text →