Take Back Our Hospitals Act of 2026

II 119TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4085 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to prevent hospitals or skilled nursing facilities that are owned by certain firms from partici- pating in the Medicare program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2026 Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Mr. B LUMENTHAL, and Mr. M ERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to prevent hospitals or skilled nursing facilities that are owned by certain firms from participating in the Medicare pro- gram. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Take Back Our Hos-4 pitals Act of 2026’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Mar 17, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4085.IS S4085kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 4085 IS SEC. 2. PREVENTING HOSPITALS AND SKILLED NURSING 1 FACILITIES OWNED BY CERTAIN FIRMS FROM 2 PARTICIPATING IN MEDICARE. 3 Section 1862 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1395y) is amended by adding at the end the following new 5 subsection: 6 ‘‘(p) P ROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO HOSPITALS 7 AND SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES OWNED BY CERTAIN 8 FIRMS.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL .— 10 ‘‘(A) P ROHIBITION.—No payment may be 11 made under this title to a hospital or skilled 12 nursing facility that is owned or controlled by 13 a covered firm or an affiliate of a covered firm. 14 ‘‘(B) E XCEPTION.—If, on the date of en-15 actment of this subsection, a hospital or skilled 16 nursing facility is owned or controlled by a cov-17 ered firm or an affiliate of such a firm, such 18 hospital or skilled nursing facility shall not be 19 considered in violation of subparagraph (A) 20 until the date that is 3 years after such date of 21 enactment. 22 ‘‘(2) N OTICE, HEARING, AND JUDICIAL RE -23 VIEW.—Any hospital or skilled nursing facility found 24 to be in violation of paragraph (1) shall be entitled 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Mar 17, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4085.IS S4085kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 4085 IS to reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing as 1 described in section 1128(f). 2 ‘‘(3) J OINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY .—A cov-3 ered firm or an affiliate of such a firm that owns or 4 is an affiliate of a hospital or skilled nursing facility 5 that is in violation of paragraph (1) shall be jointly 6 and severally liable for any penalty or obligation 7 such hospital or skilled nursing facility receives for 8 such violation. 9 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 10 ‘‘(A) A FFILIATE.—The term ‘affiliate’ 11 means an entity that controls, is controlled by, 12 or is under common control with another entity. 13 ‘‘(B) CONTROL.— 14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL .—The term ‘control’ 15 means to possess the power, directly or in-16 directly, to direct, or cause the direction of, 17 the management, administrative functions, 18 assets, or policies of an entity through 19 owning voting securities in such entity, 20 contracting with such entity (except for 21 contracting with such entity for goods or 22 non-management services), or other similar 23 means, as determined by the Secretary. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Mar 17, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4085.IS S4085kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 4085 IS ‘‘(ii) V OTING SECURITIES .—A person 1 shall be considered to control an entity if 2 such person directly or indirectly owns, has 3 rights over, or holds with the power to 4 vote, 10 percent or more of the voting se-5 curities of such entity. 6 ‘‘(C) C ORPORATION.—The term ‘corpora-7 tion’ means— 8 ‘‘(i) a joint-stock company; 9 ‘‘(ii) a company or partnership asso-10 ciation organized under a law that makes 11 only the capital subscribed or callable up 12 to a specified amount responsible for the 13 debts of the company or partnership asso-14 ciation, and includes a limited partnership 15 and a limited liability company; 16 ‘‘(iii) a trust; or 17 ‘‘(iv) an association that— 18 ‘‘(I) possesses the power or privi-19 lege of a private corporation under 20 State law; and 21 ‘‘(II) does not possess the power 22 or privilege of a sole proprietorship or 23 partnership under State law. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Mar 20, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4085.IS S4085kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 4085 IS ‘‘(D) C OVERED FIRM .—The term ‘covered 1 firm’ means— 2 ‘‘(i) a private equity fund; 3 ‘‘(ii) a corporation that is owned or 4 controlled by a private equity fund; or 5 ‘‘(iii) a real estate investment trust. 6 ‘‘(E) P RIVATE EQUITY FUND .—The term 7 ‘private equity fund’ means a person who— 8 ‘‘(i) would be considered an invest-9 ment company under section 3 of the In-10 vestment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 11 80a–3) but for the application of para-12 graph (1) or (7) of subsection (c) of such 13 section; and 14 ‘‘(ii) directly, or through an affiliate, 15 acts as a control person of such company. 16 ‘‘(F) REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST .— 17 The term ‘real estate investment trust’ has the 18 meaning given such term in section 856 of the 19 Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Mar 17, 2026 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4085.IS S4085kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB