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EMTALA - The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

EMTALA was included in the COBRA legislation of 1986. It was promulgated to combat the discriminatory practice of some hospitals transferring, discharging, or refusing to treat indigent patients coming to the emergency department because of the high cost associated with diagnosing and treating these patients with emergency medical conditions. While the Act applies to all Medicare participating hospitals, it protects anyone coming to a hospital seeking emergency medical services, not just Medicare beneficiaries. EMTALA imposes strict penalties including fines and exclusion from the Medicare program for violations of the Act. The Act imposes three primary requirements on Medicare participating hospitals that provide emergency medical services.

• The hospital must provide an appropriate medical screening exam to anyone coming to the ED seeking medical care;
• For anyone that comes to the hospital and the hospital determines that the individual has an emergency medical condition, the hospital must treat and stabilize the emergency medical condition, or the hospital must transfer the individual; and
• A hospital must not transfer an individual with an emergency medical ondition that has not been stabilized unless several conditions are me that includes effecting an appropriate transfer.

Several reports, study findings, and Frequently Asked Questions regarding EMTALA are available on the American Academy of Emergency Medicine web site where this information was found. http://www.aaem.org/emtala

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