On April 30, 2008, more than 400 pages of proposed In-Patient Prospective Payment System regulations were published, including several provisions on EMTALA.  Full text of the EMTALA related materials have been posted to this website..

Highlights include:

1. Moving on-call reponsibilities from the Emergency  Services section of the regulations to the Provider Agreement section of the regulations, but retaining EMTALA enforcement of the on-call obligation.

2. Clarification that the duty to accept transfers applies to patients admitted to the hospital but not yet stabilized, and asking for further comment on the application of the rule to any in-patient with an emergency medical condition who is not stabilized within the terms of the statute and who needs a higher level of care.

3. Creation of a new mechanism for acceptable call coverage through the use of "community call" systems where limited call resources are shared or rotated among local hospitals under a formal written structure.  Patients presenting to a hospital without the call specialty would still be entitled to full EMTALA protection at the first hospital.

New Regulations Delay Release of FAQ and EMTALAcheck

In order to keep our materials absolutely up to date, the recent release of new Site Review Guidelines and the newly proposed Regulations, I have delayed the release of the EMTALAcheck self-assessment website until June 15, and the EMTALA FAQ book to July 15.