Mississippi Code Title 41. Public Health § 41-9-209

Any hospital is authorized to seek designation as a critical access hospital. Subject to federal law, there shall be no requirement or limitation regarding the distance that a critical access hospital must be located from another hospital. The bed-size limit for a critical access hospital is twenty-five (25) operational acute care beds, and the average maximum length of stay for patients in a critical access hospital is ninety-six (96) hours, unless a longer period is required because of inclement weather or other emergency conditions. In the event the critical access hospital is a swing bed facility, any of the twenty-five (25) acute care beds allowed in a critical access hospital may be used for the provision of extended care services or acute care inpatient services so long as the furnishing of such services does not exceed twenty-five (25) beds and so long as the hospital does not seek Medicaid reimbursement for more than fifteen (15) acute care inpatient beds. A critical access hospital (a) must make available twenty-four-hour emergency care services, as described in the state rural health-care plan, for ensuring access to emergency care services in the rural area served by the critical access hospital, and (b) must be a member of a rural health network. Any hospital that has a distinct-part skilled nursing facility, certified under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act, at the time it applies for designation as a critical access hospital, may continue its operation of the distinct-part skilled nursing facility and is not required to count the beds in the distinct-part skilled nursing facility for purposes of the allowed twenty-five (25) acute care inpatient beds. To the extent permitted under Section 41-7-171 et seq., a critical access hospital may establish a distinct-part psychiatric unit and a distinct-part rehabilitation unit, each of which must be certified under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act and each of which may consist of no more than ten (10) beds. No bed in the critical access hospital's distinct-part psychiatric unit or distinct-part rehabilitation unit shall be counted for purposes of the twenty-five (25) bed limitation. Each distinct-part unit in a critical access hospital must comply with all applicable state licensure laws and federal certification laws.