Critical access hospital
The designation is a CMS certification. The MS-DRG weights on this site are for hospitals paid under IPPS, not for critical access hospitals.
Source: CMS, Critical Access Hospitals. Page read October 14, 2026.
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Definition · Care settings and facility types
Critical access hospital
A critical access hospital is a small hospital that Medicare designates, generally in a rural area, with 25 or fewer inpatient beds and a limit on the average length of stay. Medicare generally pays it 101 percent of reasonable cost rather than under the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS). It has its own NPI. Use the NPI lookup.
Find a critical access hospital's NPI.
Search the NPPES registry by name, city, or state. Each record shows the NPI, taxonomy, and practice address.
Questions
Critical access hospital, answered
Do MS-DRG weights pay a critical access hospital?
No. Those weights are for prospective-payment hospitals. Medicare generally pays a critical access hospital 101 percent of reasonable cost.