EMTALA BASICS
What is EMTALA?
Federal law that ensures patients receive emergency care regardless of ability to pay.
What is to determine if an emergency medical condition exists?
Purpose of the MSE.
The type of transfer that is allowed under EMTALA when the hospital does not have the capacity or capability to treat the patient.
What is an Appropriate Transfer?
Hospitals must maintain this, which is a list of physicians who are on call to provide stabilization services.
What is an On-Call Physician List?
What is an EMTALA violation?
Turning away or delaying treatment based on insurance status.
T/F
A hopspital with specialized capabliities (like a burn unit) can refuse a tranfer if they have capacity?
False
If they have capacity they must accept.
A "qualified medical person" (QMP) must perform this, and it cannot be delayed to inquire about insurance.
What is a Medical Screening Exam (MSE)?
The sending hospital must secure this from the receiving facility before transferring a patient.
What is acceptance?
The federal agency responsible for enforcing EMTALA regulations.
What is Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)?
What is inappropriate delay of screening?
Financial discussions before MSE may be considered this.
The three main obligations of a hospital under EMTALA (screening, stabilization, and...).
Answer: What is transfer?
What is done without delay and without regard to insurance or ability to pay?
MSE must be done this way regarding patient payment status.
This must be created and signed by a physician for every single transfer request, regardless of the outcome.
What is a transfer certification/form?
This is the specific term for when a patient is not deemed stable enough to be discharged or transferred.
What is an "Emergency Medical Condition"
True or False:
If an on-call specialist refuses to come in to treat an emergency, the hospital is not at fault.
What is False?
EMTALA applies to any individual who comes to this location, regardless of their ability to pay.
What is the Emergency Department (or hospital property)?
True or False:
A hospital can refuse to screen a patient if they have a history of being a "frequent flyer" without an emergency.
What is False?
What are receiving hospital acceptance, qualified transport, and medical records sent with patient?
Required documentation of an appropriate transfer.
If a patient signs this, the hospital is relieved of liability, but must still have offered a screening exam.
What is "Against Medical Advice" (AMA)?
A hospital is only required to treat a patient if they have this, meaning they have the staff and equipment available.
What is Capability/Capacity?
What the acronym EMTALA stands for.
What is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act?
The term for a patient whose condition is unlikely to deteriorate within a reasonable medical probability as a result of a transfer.
What is Stable?
Who determines if benefits outweigh risks for transfer?
What is the transferring physician?
The ultimate purpose of EMTALA is to prevent hospitals from doing this based on the patient's inability to pay.
What is transferring patients to public hospitals ("dumping")?
What is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)?
CMS and this agency enforce EMTALA compliance.