Summary

Creates a USDA-administered loan and loan guarantee program to prevent rural health centers and hospitals from closing or cutting essential services by providing capital and short-term operational support. Eligible facilities include many types of rural hospitals and clinics, federally qualified health centers, behavioral health and opioid treatment programs, and other Section 330-funded health centers that meet rural-location or patient-residence thresholds and demonstrate financial distress. The Secretary may prioritize sole community providers, facilities in high-poverty or shortage areas, and hospitals providing critical emergency or safety-net care. The Secretary must report to congressional agriculture committees and publish a public summary within 18 months (excluding personal/financial details of individual centers).

• Establishes a USDA Rural Health Care Facility Stabilization Assistance Program to provide loans and loan guarantees to eligible rural health providers.
• Covers many facility types: rural hospitals, rural health clinics, FQHCs, behavioral health centers, opioid treatment programs, and other Section 330-funded centers.
• Eligibility depends on rural location or patient-residence thresholds plus demonstration of financial distress (e.g., low margins, low cash reserves).
• Authorized uses include capital projects, patient-care operational costs (but not bonuses), debt payments/refinancing for care, working capital, and bridging reimbursement gaps.
• Secretary may prioritize sole community providers, facilities in high-poverty areas, shortage areas, and hospitals providing critical emergency/safety-net services.
• Requires a report to congressional agriculture committees and a public summary within 18 months, with safeguards to omit personal/financial details of individual centers.
• No specific appropriation amount is specified in these sections; program scale depends on USDA implementation and available lending/guarantee resources.
• Loans and guarantees create repayment responsibilities for facilities rather than direct grants; program is credit-based stabilization, not unconditional funding.