The 30 hospitals participating in CMS' rural hospital payment program

CMS named the 30 hospitals that make up the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program.

The program was established under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. It pays rural hospitals for inpatient hospital services using a cost-based methodology. The program was extended five years under the ACA and was expanded another five years under the 21st Century Cures Act enacted in 2016.

To participate in the program, applicant hospitals must house fewer than 51 acute care inpatient beds, offer 24-hour emergency care services and be ineligible for or not have Critical Access Hospital designation. A maximum of 30 hospitals are allowed to participate in the program.

In April, CMS issued a request for hospitals to apply for the program before May 17.

Here are the 13 new hospitals, which joined the program Oct. 1.

1. Montrose Memorial Hospital (Montrose, Colo.)
2. Trinity Regional Medical Center (Fort Dodge, Iowa)
3. St. John's Medical Center (Jackson, Wyo.)
4. Valley View Hospital (Glenwood Springs, Colo.)
5. Great Plains Regional Medical Center (Elk City, Okla.)
6. The Aroostook Medical Center (Presque Isle, Maine)
7. Anderson Regional Medical Center-South (Meridian, Miss.)
8. McPherson Hospital (McPherson, Kan.)
9. Avera St. Luke's Hospital (Aberdeen, S.D.)
10. Highland Community Hospital (Picayune, Miss.)
11. Morton County Health System (Elkhart, Kan.)
12. St. Anthony Summit Medical Center (Frisco, Colo.)
13. Avera Queen of Peace Hospital (Mitchell, S.D.)

Here are the 17 hospitals returning to the program.

1. Central Peninsula Hospital (Soldotna, Alaska)
2. Bartlett Regional Hospital (Juneau, Alaska)
3. Brookings Health System (Brookings, S.D.)
4. Columbus Community Hospital (Columbus, Neb.)
5. Delta County Memorial Hospital (Delta, Colo.)
6. Yampa Valley Medical Center (Steamboat Springs, Colo.)
7. St. Anthony Regional Hospital and Nursing Home (Carroll, Iowa)
8. Grinnell Regional Medical Center (Grinnell, Iowa)
9. Skiff Medical Center (Newton, Iowa)
10. Lakes Regional Healthcare (Spirit Lake, Iowa)
11. Mercy Hospital Fort Scott (Fort Scott, Kan.)
12. Geary Community Hospital (Junction City, Kan.)
13. Bob Wilson Memorial Grant County Hospital (Ulysses, Kan.)
14. Inland Hospital (Waterville, Maine)
15. Maine Coast Memorial Hospital (Ellsworth, Maine)
16. Marion General Hospital (Columbia, Miss.)
17. Alta Vista Regional Hospital (Las Vegas, N.M.)

This article was updated Nov. 26, 2017.