Iowa Code § 135B.3A

1. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to establish minimum standards for the licensure of rural emergency hospitals consistent with the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, Pub. L. No. 116-260, §125, and with regulations issued by the United States secretary of health and human services for rural emergency hospitals.

2. To be eligible for a rural emergency hospital license, a facility shall have been, on or before December 27, 2020, one of the following:

a. A licensed critical access hospital.

b. A general hospital with not more than fifty licensed beds located in a county in a rural area as defined in section 1886(d)(2)(D) of the federal Social Security Act.

c. A general hospital with no more than fifty licensed beds that is deemed as being located in a rural area pursuant to section 1886(d)(8)(E) of the federal Social Security Act.

Section applies to a facility or, due to change in ownership, a successor facility that was, on or before December 27, 2020, a general hospital with no more than fifty licensed beds, located in a county in a rural area as specified in this section with a specified population, and operating on and prior to a specified date under a valid certificate of need; 2023 Acts, ch 16, §20