Sole Community Hospital. A hospital which (1) is more than 50 miles from any similar hospital, (2) is 25 to 50 miles from a similar hospital and isolated from it at least one month a year as by snow, or is the exclusive provider of services to at least 75 percent of its service area populations, (3) is 15 to 25 miles from any similar hospital and is isolated from it at least one month a year, or (4) has been designated as an SCH under previous rules. The Medicare DRG program makes special optional payment provisions for SCHs, most of which are rural, including providing that their rates are set permanently so that 75 percent of their payment is hospital-specific and only 25 percent is based on regional DRG rates.