CMS issues guidelines for interpreting EMTALA rule

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

CMS issues guidelines for interpreting EMTALA rule

May 24, 2004


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued interpretive guidelines for the
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) final rule that took effect last
November. "As expected, the guidelines largely track the rule issued last year," said
Maureen Mudron, AHA Washington counsel. "By including additional examples, they've
provided more practical guidance for managing day-to-day situations." Highlights include
sections on requests for non-emergency services and on the use of telemetry and
non-physician practitioners as they relate to the availability of on-call physicians. The
guidelines, issued to CMS regional offices and state survey agencies for use in enforcing
EMTALA, can be found at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/survey-cert/letters.asp . For
more on the EMTALA final rule, see the October 2003 AHA regulatory advisory, available to
members at http://www.hospitalconnect.com/aha/members_only/content/emtala031001.doc.


Source: AHA News Now (http://www.ahanews.com)


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Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service 
UC-Irvine



	
		
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