A new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides guidance for hospitals and providers to comply with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) when treating pregnant patients.
EMTALA requires emergency departments to screen, stabilize, and transfer or accept all individuals who need emergency care, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. However, this policy could conflict with several state abortion laws, creating a complicated and uncertain outlook for essential hospitals to provide emergency services and other stabilizing care to patients with life-threatening conditions.
The report, Contemporary Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) Clinical Issues Involving Pregnant Patients, illustrates the challenges of implementing EMTALA in states with restrictive abortion laws with examples of recent EMTALA citations involving the care of pregnant patients. CMS and AHRQ identify three key hospital policy themes that commonly affect the ability of pregnant patients to get the care they need under EMTALA:
- Making full use of the hospital’s capabilities, including on-call services routinely available to the emergency department, to screen individuals for emergency medical conditions (EMCs) and stabilize them if needed
- Understanding and complying with EMTALA’s definitions of “EMC” and “to stabilize”
- Appropriately logging all individuals seeking emergency care
To help hospitals meet their obligations under EMTALA, CMS also has updated guidance, launched a compliance initiative in January, and reaffirmed its commitment to EMTALA enforcement in July.
Contact Director of Policy Rob Nelb, MPH, at rnelb@essentialhospitals.org or 202.585.0127 with questions.
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