Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released guidance on Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act. EMTALA requires Medicare participating hospitals (including critical access hospitals) to perform the following:
• Provide medical screening examinations to every individual, including women in labor, their unborn child(ren), and newly born infants protected by the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act when they present for care to dedicated emergency departments, which includes labor and delivery departments, or other locations on the hospital campus;
• Provide stabilizing treatment within the hospital’s capabilities to any individual, including a born-alive infant, with an emergency medical condition;
• If unable to stabilize the emergency medical condition, arrange for an appropriate transfer to another hospital with specialized services for the necessary stabilizing treatment; and,
• Accept appropriate transfers of patients with unstable emergency medical conditions if the hospital has the capabilities and capacity to provide necessary stabilizing treatment.
The full Medicare Learning Network guidance can be found here.
