Wis. Admin. Code DHS §124-40 - Requirements for a critical access hospital

This law requires that a hospital designated as a critical access hospital (by being located in a rural area within no other access to medical care) not have more than a certain number of beds to be used exclusive for acute inpatient care, and not allow inpatient care for longer than 96 hours per patient.  The law further requires that such a hospital make emergency services available 24 hours a day and that the hospital have a physician/nurse practitioner/physician’s assistant on-call 24 hours a day who can be available on-site within 30 minutes.  The law further sets forth requirements with respect to staffing and referral agreements with one or more network hospitals to deal with a number of listed issues including transfer of patients, transportation and quality assurance.