Rural Hospital Access Act of 2012 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend through FY2013: (1) the current methodology for payment to subsection (d) hospitals for inpatient hospital services furnished to individuals under the Medicare-dependent, small rural hospital (MDH) program, and (2) increased payments under the Medicare program for low-volume hospitals (with under 1,600 annual discharges).
(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)
Directs the Comptroller General to study such programs.