EMTALA

July 1, 2021

Posted on by Courtney Patterson

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.

October 29, 2020

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        I heard on a recent audio conference that nurse practitioners are not permitted to be listed on the emergency department call schedule.  But, it’s commonplace at our Hospital for the hospitalists to split call amongst the doctors and the nurse practitioners.  It’s been this way for years.  Did something change?

 

ANSWER:          The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) has always required that a physician be listed on the on-call roster for the emergency department (“ED”). Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other non-physicians do not suffice to satisfy this legal requirement.

That does not necessarily mean your hospital has been doing things wrong, however.  When the term “on call” is thrown around by those involved in hospital and medical staff compliance matters, sometimes things get jumbled up a bit – because that term can mean a number of things.

It is perfectly acceptable for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other non-physicians to be on call for their private group practice or for their employer (for example, physician assistants who are part of an employed or contracted hospitalist group that covers all patients admitted to the hospital).  These individuals likely are responding to calls about the practice’s patients (sometimes from the ED and sometimes from the floor) and they may even agree to take on some unassigned patients who present to the hospital, if no one else is available to assume those patients’ care.

This is different than the ED’s on-call roster.  The on-call roster is used by the hospital to ensure that services that are designed to meet the needs of the community are available within the ED.  This is the roster of physicians who respond in the event that a patient comes to the ED and is determined to be suffering from an emergency medical condition that requires stabilization.  In some (most) hospitals, if the patient lacks an existing patient-physician relationship with the type of specialist (e.g., cardiology, oral and maxillofacial trauma surgeon) whose services are required, the patient is considered “unassigned” and, by policy, the physician listed on the ED’s on-call roster must respond to the hospital to care for the patient (as requested by the ED physician).  In some hospitals, all patients who come to the ED after normal business hours are assigned to the ED’s on-call physician, though that is less commonly the policy.

To summarize: When an individual is covering their own practice’s patients, that person is not generally considered to be on the ED’s on-call roster.  As long as hospital policy allows it, a practice can choose any of its practitioners to respond to calls to the practice about their own patients.

For the ED roster that is designed with EMTALA compliance in mind, however, a physician must be listed (by name, not by group practice).  It is likely that this is the way your hospital has been managing things, since the requirement for a physician to be listed has not changed.  The confusion generated during the recent audio conference that you listened to probably lies in the ambiguity over the term “on-call roster.”

February 13, 2020

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:            We are revising our Medical Staff Bylaws and a question has come up about whether we could add a “years of service” exemption that let’s physicians opt-out of their ED call obligations if they have been on the Medical Staff for more than 20 years. Is this okay under EMTALA?

ANSWER:            It is. CMS recognized the practice of giving age or year’s of service based exemptions in the 2003 Preamble to the updated EMTALA Regulations, stating:

“We understand that some hospitals exempt senior medical staff physicians from being on call. This exemption is typically written into the hospital’s medical staff bylaws or the hospital’s rules and regulations, and recognizes a physician’s active years of service (for example, 20 or more years) or age (for example, 60 years of age or older), or a combination of both. We wish to clarify that providing such exemptions to members of hospitals’ medical staff does not necessarily violate EMTALA. On the contrary, we believe that a hospital is responsible for maintaining an on-call list in a manner that best meets the needs of its patients as long as the exemption does not affect patient care adversely. Thus, CMS allows hospitals flexibility in the utilization of their emergency personnel.” (Emphasis added).

Obviously, the highlighted language indicates that while such exemptions are permissible under EMTALA, the exemptions cannot interfere with a hospital’s ability to maintain adequate on-call services.

Therefore, we recommend the MEC approve any request for such an exemption, since allowing an exemption to take effect automatically could create EMTALA problems, depending on the number of remaining physicians in the specialty.  Furthermore, we also recommend including language that states the MEC can require a physician who was previously given an exemption to return to the call schedule (on a temporary or permanent basis) if the needs of the Hospital change.

September 12, 2019

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        Our Bylaws state that all of the members of the Active Staff are required to provide call coverage for our ED.  Assuming that we only have two neurosurgeons who are able to cover the ED each month, does this mean they must take 15 days of call each?  Our physician leaders are telling us that this is a tremendous burden, but we do not want to violate EMTALA.

 

ANSWER:            A tough question, made even tougher by the fact that CMS has provided very little guidance on the reasonableness of hospital call schedules.  In fact, it has even denounced a common “rule of thumb” that many hospitals have decided to follow over the years.

We are referring to the “rule of three” approach, which is based on prior, informal guidance from CMS that said if there were three physicians in a particular clinical specialty on a medical staff, the hospital had the obligation to provide emergency services on a 24/7/365 basis for that specialty.  This has been extrapolated to mean that, in a specialty with fewer than three physicians (like in the question above), each physician should provide 10 days/month of call coverage.

But before you start revisiting your own On-Call Policy requirements, keep in mind that CMS never put this rule in writing and now denies it ever existed.  Instead, it uses a rather nebulous “all relevant” factors test to evaluate the reasonableness of a hospital’s call schedule.  This means that each hospital should consider factors like the number of physicians available to take call, other demands on these physicians, frequency of emergency cases in that specialty, etc. to determine its on-call schedule.

This may not be as helpful as a “rule of three” or “rule of five” approach that we still see some hospitals follow, but it is important to recognize CMS does not have a bright line rule that require 24/7/365-day coverage for each specialty, so there is some flexibility.

August 16, 2018

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        What responsibility does the hospital have under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”) to stabilize an individual with an emergency medical condition once he/she is admitted as an inpatient at the hospital?

ANSWER:            The short answer is that the stabilization obligation under EMTALA is satisfied and ends upon patient admission.

Under EMTALA, it is required that when an individual comes to an emergency department, the hospital must provide an appropriate medical screening examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency department and, if an emergency medical condition is determined to exist, provide any necessary stabilizing treatment, or an appropriate transfer.  However, EMTALA further provides that if the hospital admits the individual as an inpatient for further treatment, the hospital’s obligation to stabilize ends (42 C.F.R. § 489.24(a)(1)(ii)).  In fact, the Interpretive Guidelines to EMTALA reiterate that EMTALA does not apply to hospital inpatients.  The existing hospital Conditions of Participation protect individuals who are already inpatients of a hospital and who experience an emergency medical condition.

In fact, in a recent case noted in last week’s version of the Health Law Express, Walley v. York Hospital, the court looked to the history of EMTALA and its application to inpatients.  Back in 2002, recognizing a difference of opinion among courts, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) did propose applying the stabilization requirement to inpatients admitted in order to stabilize emergency medical conditions.  However, after negative public comments and consideration of federal case law, CMS, in 2003, adopted the version that is now in effect, that the stabilization requirement is satisfied and ends upon patient admission as far as federal remedy is concerned.  After reexamining the issue in 2012, CMS once again chose to leave the regulation as it stands.  (Walley v. York Hosp., CIVIL NO. 2:18-CV-126-DBH (D. Me. July 27, 2018).)

However, it is important to note that CMS and case law recognize that a hospital must admit an individual as an inpatient in good faith to avoid liability under EMTALA. Specifically, if a hospital did not admit an individual as an inpatient in good faith with the intention of providing treatment, such that the hospital used the inpatient admission as a means to avoid EMTALA requirements, then the hospital is considered liable under EMTALA and actions may be pursued.

July 19, 2018

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        We have two physicians in two different specialties, all four of whom have been willing to take emergency call two days each week, but they have announced that they want their employed advanced practice clinicians (“APCs”) to take their call on weekend days; they are no longer willing personally to take any call on weekends.  ED visits are rare in one of those specialties but common in the other.   Does that comply with EMTALA?

ANSWER:            According to CMS, hospitals must have specialty call schedules that meet the needs of patients in the community.  With only two physicians in any specialty, a reasonable call schedule can be developed with arrangements to transfer patients on the days (known in advance) when those specialists are not on call.  CMS will consider “all relevant factors” in determining compliance, and would expect that the call schedule be based on data showing when patients seek care in the ED for the specialties represented on the medical staff.  Are these specialists on call for their own practices on weekends?  That would be a factor to be considered per CMS.  Another hospital to which patients in need of a specialist on a weekend are transferred might report your hospital, leading to an investigation.  The specialists’ refusal to provide any weekend call thus could put the hospital in jeopardy.  CMS allows APCs to participate in the response to call pursuant to policies adopted by a hospital board.  However, CMS does not permit APCs to be listed on the call roster independently (even if they can practice independently in your state). CMS likely would not accept the inclusion of the APCs on the call schedule in lieu of a physician specialist (despite the newer language in the CMS Conditions of Participation and Interpretive Guidelines calling for APCs to have a greater role on the medical staff).  If a patient presents on a weekend in an emergency medical condition, needing the care of the specialist who employs (and supervises/collaborates with) the APC, the physician would be responsible to come in if the ED physician determines that the specialist is needed personally.  (That could be a condition of the grant of privileges.)  It would be best to convene a working group of physician leaders (including an ED physician), the management team, counsel, risk management and at least one Board member to review data showing when patients present to the ED in need of various specialties, and the relative burden among the specialties on the staff. That group can develop a compliant plan.  The risks are significant so it behooves every organization to develop a policy.

Be sure to join Ian Donaldson and Barbara Blackmond for The Complete Course for Medical Staff Leaders!  We cover EMTALA basics, as well as solutions to common dilemmas, in an entertaining way.

January 18, 2018

Posted on by hortyspringer


QUESTION:        Our Active Staff category requires members to take emergency call.  In many specialties, we struggle with finding physicians willing to take their fair share of call.  In orthopedics, however, we have a group based primarily at another hospital outside our system who own their own diagnostic facilities, to which they end up referring many patients from our ED for services we can provide.  A few patients have expressed concerns about why they were sent to another facility.  A few patients have reported that the orthopedic surgeon said the other facility was much better and newer, with no wait time.  What can we do?


ANSWER:            The purpose of the emergency call obligations connected to Active Staff appointment and privileges is to enable the hospital to comply with EMTALA and provide care to patients who come to the hospital’s ED, not to provide a source of referrals of patients to facilities owned by on-call specialists.  If a patient needs an X-ray, in order to evaluate and stabilize an emergency medical condition, the patient should not be sent elsewhere (unless the patient specifically so requests) because that could implicate EMTALA.  Follow-up care not needed to treat or stabilize the condition that brought the patient to the ED could be provided elsewhere, and patients can choose where to receive follow-up care.  However, on-call specialists should not be marketing their facilities by in essence disparaging the hospital’s services.  (Of course, if patients are choosing to receive tests and other services elsewhere, upgrading facilities and adding staff to minimize wait times is a good idea, if feasible.)  Some hospitals limit call in some specialties to physicians who are under contract (or employed).  The Board can determine how call will be handled in different specialties.  Call is a responsibility, not a right or a “privilege.”  (It should not be included on delineation forms as a privilege.)  So long as departments don’t vote (which could give rise to conspiracy allegations), the Board and MEC would be free to establish how the hospital will satisfy its EMTALA obligations.

October 19, 2017

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        The hospital across town is very lax with its on-call schedule. Even though this other hospital has numerous physicians in certain specialties, it keeps transferring ED patients to us because it doesn’t have anyone on call in that specialty who can treat the patient. Our physicians feel like they’re on call for the other hospital as well as our own. Do we have to accept these transfers?

ANSWER:            Yes. Under EMTALA, a receiving hospital has the right to refuse a request for a “lateral” transfer. A lateral transfer occurs where the same services are provided at both the sending hospital and the receiving hospital. Such a refusal does not violate EMTALA even though it may be in the patient’s best interest for the transfer to be accepted.

However, if the receiving hospital has “specialized capabilities,” and also has the capacity to stabilize the patient’s emergency medical condition, then the receiving hospital must accept the patient.

EMTALA itself lists burn units, shock trauma units and neonatal units as examples of “specialized capabilities.” However, courts and CMS have taken the position that an on-call physician also constitutes a “specialized capability.” Thus, if your hospital has an on-call physician available, and the hospital proposing the transfer doesn’t have an on-call physician available, your hospital must accept the transfer if it has the capacity to take care of the patient. This is true even if the sending hospital has specialists on its staff who could treat the patient if they were on call (but who are not actually on call).

This requirement has put hospitals across the country, and their on-call physicians, in a difficult position. Essentially, this requirement can make on-call physicians at Hospital B (the receiving hospital) responsible not only for Hospital B’s ED patients, but also potentially for many of Hospital A’s (the sending Hospital) ED patients. That could be because Hospital A doesn’t have the needed specialist on its medical staff or because Hospital A has a less rigorous call schedule than Hospital B.

To learn more about this issue, please join Phil Zarone and Ian Donaldson on November 7, 2017 for an audio conference on “On-Call and EMTALA Policies.” For more information, click here.

October 12, 2017

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        Our hospital operates an emergency room and has an inpatient behavioral health unit.  Our emergency room has evaluated a patient with mental illness on numerous occasions, typically on “emergency certificates” under our state law.  In the past, this particular patient has been violent and assaultive toward staff in the emergency room.  Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”), are we permitted to refuse to admit this patient to our behavioral health unit the next time he comes to the emergency room with a psychiatric emergency?

ANSWER:            That’s a very good question, and for any individual hospital, the best answer probably comes from its CMS Regional Office.  Each Regional Office has EMTALA “jurisdiction” over its region.  It is the Regional Office that determines whether there has been an EMTALA violation or not if a complaint is received.

Under EMTALA, the hospital is required to perform a medical screening examination on the patient when he is brought to the emergency room to determine if the patient has an emergency medical condition.  The definition of “emergency medical condition” under EMTALA includes a psychiatric emergency medical condition.

If the patient has a psychiatric emergency medical condition, the EMTALA duty on the hospital is to stabilize that emergency medical condition if the hospital has the capacity and the capability to do so.  Because this hospital has a behavioral health unit, it has the services and resources to stabilize a psychiatric emergency medical condition.  (That’s assuming the behavioral health unit has an available bed.)

Many hospitals do not have forensic units, nor are they staffed to address violent psychiatric patients.  The EMTALA regulations state that a hospital is to provide stabilizing treatment within the capabilities of the staff and facilities available at the hospital.  Thus, there is an EMTALA argument to make that treating a violent psychiatric patient does not come within the capabilities of a hospital’s behavioral health unit.

However, in our discussions with one CMS Regional Office, a representative informed us that the Regional Office expects all behavioral health units to be able to handle a certain level of violence in a psychiatric patient.  If a complaint was ever brought about the rejection of a patient with a psychiatric emergency medical condition, the Regional Office would have its own psychiatrist review and determine whether the violence level of the patient exceeded the behavioral health unit’s capabilities and resources.  If the Regional Office psychiatrist felt that the behavioral health unit could have managed the patient, there would be an EMTALA violation.

Notwithstanding the EMTALA implications of the situation, the most important consideration is the safety of the staff of the hospital and the patient.  A more proactive approach might be useful in which representatives from the hospital (including its security staff) sit down to discuss a method to handle violent patients in general.  The development of this method may be assisted by involving the local police, especially if the circumstances involve a patient or patients who have been assaultive in the past and/or have threatened to assault hospital staff in the future.

This is a very difficult issue, but a well-defined plan or policy that includes input from all those potentially involved would help in understanding the issue, achieving buy-in, complying with the law, and, most importantly, protecting staff and patients.

For more information on this topic, join Susan Lapenta and Phil Zarone on November 7, 2017 for the On-Call and EMTALA Policies audio conference (part of the Horty, Springer & Mattern Grand Rounds audio conference series).

June 15, 2017

Posted on by hortyspringer

QUESTION:        What’s this I hear about the penalties for EMTALA violations being doubled?  Haven’t we suffered enough?

ANSWER:            I agree about the suffering, but sorry, that’s not going to affect the doubling of the EMTALA civil monetary penalties.

As difficult as EMTALA can be, until a few months ago, it had actually been years since the federal government issued a new EMTALA regulation, guideline or bulletin.  But that’s not a complaint; EMTALA compliance is difficult enough with the existing rules, let alone any new ones.

So it’s interesting that the Office of Inspector General (the “OIG”) came out in December 2016 with some new regulations.  The OIG revised its regulations concerning penalties, including civil monetary penalties (“CMPs”), that it can impose for EMTALA violations.  These new rules were released in the OIG’s Final Rule concerning Medicare and State Health Care Programs; Fraud and Abuse; and Revisions to the OIG’s CMP Rules.

These new OIG regulations didn’t create new EMTALA responsibilities to be carried out.  Instead, they simply addressed the OIG’s penalty rules.  The most eye-popping of these concern the amount of the CMPs, now adjusted per inflation.

By the Act itself, which went into force in 1986, the OIG can fine hospitals with 100 beds or more and physicians up to $50,000 per EMTALA violation.  Hospitals under 100 beds can be fined $25,000 per violation.

Noting that those figures have never been adjusted for inflation over the past 30-plus years, the OIG adjusted.  Now, hospitals with 100 beds or more and physicians can be fined up to $103,139 per violation.  Hospitals under 100 beds can be fined up to $51,570 per EMTALA violation.

The OIG did not revise the EMTALA-stated penalty amounts themselves; the EMTALA regulations still describe CMPs for $50,000 and $25,000.  This is an inflation-adjusted increase detailed in another HHS-published document regarding CMPs.  (A $50,000 penalty doesn’t get you as much in 2017 as it did back in 1986.)

The OIG has not suddenly become “penalty hungry” when it comes to hospitals, on-call physicians, and other EMTALA matters.  The OIG suggested these clarifications in proposed regulations it issued back in May 2014.  Both the Affordable Care Act and the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act enhanced the OIG’s authority to impose CMPs and to exclude individuals from participating in federal health care programs.  This was the OIG taking advantage of those two statutes to clean up and clarify its EMTALA penalty rules.

As the new CMPs basically double the penalty amount, it’s also important to understand that the OIG’s CMPs apply to each EMTALA violation, and a hospital or a physician can violate EMTALA more than once in the care of a single patient.  It’s not uncommon for an EMTALA wrongdoing to include multiple violations.  With CMPs of now roughly $100,000 per EMTALA violation, a hospital can find itself with the potential for some pretty stiff fines.