Critical Access Hospital Program

An Acute Care facility may qualify as a Critical Access Hospital if the acute care facility is non-profit, public or for profit. The Commonwealth of Kentucky shall certify the acute care facility as a necessary provider of health services. The facility must be located in a rural county more than 35 miles from another acute care facility, 15 miles if in a mountainous area. The emergency room should have 24-hour availability. The acute care facility may have no more than 15 beds licensed as acute care and may have 10 beds licensed as swing beds. An average length of stay may not exceed 96 hours.

According to 906 KAR 1:110, the acute care facility also needs to meet one of the following criteria:

1. Be located in a county where the percentage of the population with income less than 200 percent of poverty is greater than the state average, based on data published by the UK Center for Rural Health;
2. Be located in a county that has an unemployment rate higher than the state average unemployment rate, based on data published by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS);
3. Be located in a county with a greater number of people age sixty-four (64) or older than the state average, based on data published by the UK Center for Rural Health;
4. Treat on average a higher than state average percentage of Medicare patients, based on data published by CHFS;
5. Treat on average a higher than state average percentage of Medicaid patients, based on data published by the CHFS.