{"bill":{"id":"119-s-4641","congress":119,"type":"S","number":4641,"title":"Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2026","originChamber":"Senate","introducedDate":"2026-05-21","sponsors":[{"bioguideId":"C001035","fullName":"Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]","party":"R","state":"ME","district":null}],"cosponsorsCount":6,"latestAction":{"actionDate":"2026-05-21","text":"Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance."},"policyArea":"Health","subjects":[],"actions":[{"date":"2026-05-21","text":"Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.","type":"IntroReferral","chamber":"Senate","hasVote":false},{"date":"2026-05-21","text":"Introduced in Senate","type":"IntroReferral","chamber":"Library of Congress","hasVote":false}],"summary":"<p><strong>Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of </strong><strong>2026</strong></p><p>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&nbsp;with respect to&nbsp;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.)</p>","updateDate":"2026-07-29T11:03:25Z"},"markets":[],"stateBills":[],"meta":{"sources":["congress.gov"],"latencyMs":341,"ts":"2026-08-28T08:38:00.704Z"},"nextActions":{"inspect":[],"related":[{"description":"Search related legislation","method":"GET","url":"https://simplefunctions.dev/api/public/query-gov?q=Improving%20Access%20to%20Medicare%20Coverage%20Act%20of%202026"}]}}