CMS announces new actions to support hospitals under EMTALA

Editor's Note

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced a new initiative to ensure public access to emergency healthcare and assist hospitals in fulfilling obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), a CMS January 22 press release reports.

This initiative includes:

• new resources that CMS will provide on its website to educate individuals about their rights under EMTALA
• training materials about providers' responsibilities under EMTALA, to be distributed by the HHS in conjunction with hospital and provider associations
• best practices and challenges to be delineated by hospital and provider associations
• a specialized team of experts created by the HHS to discuss the above, in compliance with EMTALA.

This plan comes after increasing inquiries from patients and providers about compliance with federal obligations and access to necessary emergency medical care as stipulated by federal law. "The Biden-Harris Administration remains focused on working with doctors, hospitals, and patients to promote patient access to the care" to which "they are entitled...under federal law and has long taken the position that this required emergency care can, in some circumstances, include abortion care. The US Department of Justice is currently defending that understanding before the Supreme Court,"  the press release noted.