EMTALA Overview and Q&A with CMS

Overview:

CMS EMTALA physician lead and Regional Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sean Michael, will provide an overview of EMTALA regulatory requirements, current enforcement data and trends, and common clinical and policy issues. There will be ample time for audience Q&A and interactive dialogue. By the end of the presentation, participants will be better able to:

• Summarize the basic EMTALA requirements and distinguish between common colloquial understandings of EMTALA versus CMS regulatory interpretations
• Recognize some common pitfalls, frequently asked questions, and best practices in EMTALA compliance and enforcement
• Utilize CMS interpretive guidance and other resources to improve EMTALA education

Sean Michael, Regional Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS)

Sean Michael is an actively practicing emergency physician with dual-board certification in clinical informatics. He serves as Regional Chief Medical Officer in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Denver location, focusing on cross-cutting implementation of CMS programs and policy. He also helps lead CMS agency-wide work on emergency care, including EMTALA, emergency department boarding and crowding, acute behavioral health care, and emergency care of older adults. Dr. Michael was previously the emergency department director of a large academic ED and continues to practice clinically and serve on the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine.