U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley was in Pella last week to meet with officials at Pella Regional Health Center.

Grassley says that he was there to discuss changes to the “96-hour rule” made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, which will limit the stays of patients at rural, critical-access hospitals.

“Now the 96-hour rule will mean if you are in this hospital–a critical access hospital, and you got to have a longer hospitalization, one of two things happen,” Grassley says. “Either this hospital, i f they keep you, they are not going to be reimbursed for it. And if they can’t do that, and they probably can’t do that in a smaller hospital, then you have to be taken by ambulance to a bigger hospital for further recovery.”

Pella Regional CEO Bob Kroese tells KNIA/KRLS News the rule initially meant that the hospital’s average Medicare or Medicaid patient stay could be 96 hours. Now he says that is the limit, which could adversely affect patients needing long-term care.

“We’ve never had a history at all of having a problem staying within the average at all,” Kroese says. “But when you do occasionally have patients that have to stay beyond the 96 hours, it’s very problematic for the patient and their care.”

Grassley says he’s working on a bill that would eliminate the rule and allow hospitals to be flexible, so they can maintain the reimbursement funding they receive for the programs. We have more about the senator’s visit on Let’s Talk Pella.