AHA is recommending CMS not expand the application of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act to inpatients in need of transfers to specialized facilities, according to an AHA letter to CMS administrator Don Berwick.
Currently, EMTALA is part of Medicare participation conditions for hospitals, also coupled with state laws, accreditation and other oversight entities. It applies to patients in hospital emergency departments and in states where hospitals must admit any individual with an unstable medical condition as an inpatient. The expansion seeks to require specialized hospitals to accept transfer patients who cannot be stabilized at their current hospital. This is under the assumption that the specialized hospitals would not be at capacity.
AHA says attempting to use EMATLA for more than it was designed is “legally unsound” and “would adversely affect patient care,” according to the letter. The letter also said the expansion would interrupt working relationships among hospitals and have a “chilling effect” on appropriate transfers due to liability exposure.
Read the AHA release on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
Read more about EMTALA:
