QUESTION:   “In reference to the case in this week’s HLE, does EMTALA apply to inpatients?”

ANSWER:      The obligations under EMTALA do not apply to a hospital once a patient is admitted as an inpatient in good faith.

However, the issue in the Harmon case was whether the patient had been formally admitted as an inpatient or simply placed in observation. If it is ultimately determined that the patient had been admitted as an inpatient, then he will no longer have a claim under EMTALA, as the Hospital’s obligation to effectuate an appropriate transfer would have ended prior to his attempt to kill himself by jumping out of the car during the transfer to the other facility.

Conversely, if it is determined the patient was put into observation but not admitted as an inpatient, he will be free to pursue his EMTALA claim. This is because CMS has stated that such action does not end a hospital’s EMTALA obligations. This can be found in the Interpretive Guidelines, which state:

“Individuals who are placed in observation status are not inpatients, even if they occupy a bed overnight. Therefore, placement in an observation status of an individual who came to the hospital’s [emergency department] does not terminate the EMTALA obligations of that hospital or a recipient hospital toward the individual.” (Emphasis added)

TAG A-2411/C-2411, Rev. 191,07-19-19

The court in Harmon cites entries in the patient’s medical record that support both arguments (i.e., that the patient was admitted vs. put into observation), so it declined to make a finding on this factual question at this point in the litigation.