The Healthier Rural Hospitals Act establishes a temporary program aimed at providing enhanced payments to hospitals located in counties with populations under one hundred thousand residents, funded by Medicaid managed care organizations. The Ohio Department of Medicaid is tasked with calculating the statewide average payment rate for hospital services provided to Medicaid recipients and determining eligibility for the program based on a scoring system that ranks counties according to various health metrics, including cancer death rates, poverty levels, and rates of chronic respiratory disease, stroke, and drug overdose deaths. The twenty lowest-ranked counties will be eligible for increased payment rates, with hospitals in the top ten receiving at least 150% of the statewide average and those ranked eleven to twenty receiving at least 125%.

Additionally, the bill stipulates that Medicaid managed care organizations cannot reduce payment rates for hospitals not participating in the program to fund these enhanced payments. The program is set to terminate two years after its effective date, ensuring a temporary solution to support rural hospitals in Ohio.