GOVERNMENTChanges necessary to alleviate EMTALA's ills, HHS Office of Inspector General saysNew reports detail doctors' and hospitals' troubles complying with a law that was intended to curtail patient dumping but may have mushroomed out of control.By Jane Cys, amednews staff. Feb. 12, 2001. Washington -- The Office of Inspector General released two reports in January recommending several steps the Health Care Financing Administration could take to better communicate and enforce the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. Both physicians and hospitals cheered a recommendation that HCFA should continue supporting legislation that would force managed care plans to reimburse hospitals for EMTALA-related services to patients, including screening exams that ultimately don't uncover an emergency condition. Robert Schafermeyer, MD, American College of Emergency Physicians president, noted that hospitals often must choose between risking nonpayment for a service that hasn't been preapproved by a private insurer or risking an EMTALA violation for seeking preauthorization for that service. This is part of the reason many emergency departments are facing a growing financial crisis, he said. "Emergency departments provide a valuable community service, and we all will be affected by threats to that service," Dr. Schafermeyer said. "Emergency physicians have signaled a national call to action because of the adverse effects of many factors, including decreased resources, a national nursing shortage and increased closures of hospitals and emergency departments." The EMTALA recommendations contained in the two OIG reports are based on the findings of a survey of hospital emergency departments, meetings with California emergency physicians and the agency's evaluation of HCFA's enforcement process.
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Copyright 2001 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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