Rhode Island Hospital Sues Medicare Over Rural Status Denial

Oct. 20, 2025, 8:11 PM UTC

A hospital sued the Medicare program for denying its application to be considered a rural facility eligible for supplemental payments.

Rhode Island-based Westerly Hospital filed suit Oct. 17 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that Medicare contractors unlawfully denied its request to join the Medicare-dependent hospital program, an initiative that allows additional reimbursement to small rural hospitals that serve a large share of Medicare patients.

The case centers on which types of state attestations satisfy the MDH program’s eligibility requirements.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs submitted a letter from the Rhode Island Department of ...

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