Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026
Key claim: The Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026 would count hospital outpatient observation time as inpatient days for meeting Medicare’s three-day stay requirement for skilled nursing facility coverage.
Abstract
(S4641 · 119th Congress) Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026 This bill deems an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital as an inpatient for purposes of satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital-stay requirement with respect to Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility (SNF) services. (Generally, individuals must have been an inpatient at a hospital for at least three days in order to qualify for SNF services. An individual’s time spent under observation at a hospital for purposes of determining whether the individual should be admitted does not count towards this requirement.) Latest action (2026-05-21): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Why this matters
Under current Medicare rules, beneficiaries must have a three-day inpatient hospital stay to qualify for Part A skilled nursing facility coverage, and outpatient observation days—even when spent in a hospital bed receiving similar care—do not count. This bill would let observation time count toward that threshold, which would materially expand SNF coverage eligibility and reduce out-of-pocket post-acute costs for patients caught in observation status.