An Important and Contemporary Issue – Once Again
[By Patricia Trites; MPA, CHBC, CMP™ (Hon) with Staff Reporters]
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is receiving increasing scrutiny from prosecutors during these times of financials stress and credit tightening. The statute is intended to ensure that all patients who come to the emergency department of a hospital receive care, regardless of their insurance or ability to pay. Both hospitals and physicians need to work together to ensure compliance with the provisions of this law.
Triad of Requirements
EMTALA imposes three fundamental requirements upon hospitals that participate in the Medicare program with regard to patients requesting emergency care.
First, the hospital must conduct an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if an emergency medical condition exists.
Second, if the hospital determines that an emergency medical condition exists, it must either provide the treatment necessary to stabilize the emergency medical condition or comply with the statute’s requirements to affect a proper transfer of a patient whose condition has not been stabilized. A hospital is considered to have met this second requirement if an individual refuses the hospital’s offer of additional examination or treatment, or refuses to consent to a transfer, after having been informed of the risks and benefits of treatment.
Third, EMTALA’s requirement is activated if an individual’s emergency medical condition has not been stabilized.
Hospital Transfers
A hospital may not transfer an individual with an unstable emergency medical condition unless:
(1) the individual or his or her representative makes a written request for transfer to another medical facility after being informed of the risk of transfer and the transferring hospital’s obligation under the statute to provide additional examination or treatment;
(2) a physician has signed a certification summarizing the medical risks and benefits of a transfer and certifying that, based upon the information available at the time of transfer, the medical benefits reasonably expected from the transfer outweigh the increased risks; or
(3) a qualified medical person signs the certification after the physician, in consultation with the qualified medical person, has made the determination that the benefits of transfer outweigh the increased risks, if a physician is not physically present when the transfer decision is made. The physician must later countersign the certification.
On-Call Responsibilities
One area of particular concern is physician on-call responsibilities. Physician practices whose members serve as on-call hospital emergency room physicians are advised to familiarize themselves with the hospital’s policies regarding on-call physicians. This can be done by reviewing the medical staff bylaws or policies and procedures of the hospital that must define the responsibility of on-call physicians to respond to, examine, and treat patients with emergency medical conditions. Physicians should also be aware of the requirement that, when medically indicated, on-call physicians must generally come to the hospital to examine the patient. Patients may be sent to see the on-call physician at a hospital-owned contiguous or on-campus facility to conduct or complete the medical screening examination due to the following reasons:
- all persons with the same medical condition are moved to this location;
- there is a bona fide medical reason to move the patient;
- qualified medical personnel accompany the patient; and
- teaching physicians may participate.
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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Career Development, Ethics, Glossary Terms, Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, iMBA, Inc., Managed Care, Practice Management, Recommended Books | Tagged: CMP, david marcinko, emergency care, emergency department, Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, emergency room, EMTALA, ER, healthcare, hope hetico, hospital, medicare, Pati Trites, www.healthcarefinancials.com, www.healthdictionaryseries.com | 9 Comments »
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