Stevens County Hospital became a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in May 2001. This designation was created by the United States Congress in 1997 to provide support for small, rural hospitals by allowing cost-based reimbursement for care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. To qualify as a CAH, a rural hospital may have a maximum of 25 acute care beds and be considered critical to the care of the community as determined by distance from other, larger hospitals, by geography limiting access to another hospital, or by state certification as a “necessary provider.” Other requirements for CAH status include provision of 24-hour emergency department services, and an average length of stay for acute care of 96 hours or less. Due to the short-term, limited care nature, Critical Access Hospitals must establish a relationship with other, larger hospitals to which they can transfer patients who need more care.