EMTALA

OIG EMTALA Update with Emphasis on On-Call Physician Requirements

The following are recent comments from the OIG on EMTALA. Particular attention should be paid to the discussion of "on call" physician requirements.

[Federal Register: June 12, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 113)]
[Notices]
[Page 36818-36835]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12jn00-34]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of Inspector General

Draft OIG Compliance Program for Individual and Small Group Physician Practices

Appendix A: Additional Risk Areas

II. Physician Relationships With Hospitals

A. The Physician Role in the Patient Anti-Dumping Statute

The Patient Anti-Dumping Statute, 42 U.S.C. 1395dd, is an area that has been receiving increasing scrutiny. The statute is intended to ensure that all patients who come to the emergency department of a hospital receive care, regardless of their insurance or ability to pay. Both hospitals and physicians need to work together to ensure compliance with the provisions of this law.

The statute imposes three fundamental requirements upon hospitals that participate in the Medicare program with regard to patients requesting emergency care. First, the hospital must conduct an appropriate medical screening examination to determine if an emergency medical condition exists.\3\ Second, if the hospital determines that an emergency medical condition exists, it must either provide the treatment necessary to stabilize the emergency medical condition or comply with the statute's requirements to effect a proper transfer of a patient whose condition has not been stabilized.\4\ A hospital is considered to have met this second requirement if an individual refuses the hospital's offer of additional examination or treatment, or refuses to consent to a transfer, after having been informed of the risks and benefits.\5\

\3\See 42 U.S.C. 1395dd(a).

\4\See 42 U.S.C. 1395dd(b)(1).

\5\See 42 U.S.C. 1395dd(b)(2)-(3).

If an individual's emergency medical condition has not been stabilized, the statute's third requirement is activated. A hospital may not transfer an individual with an unstable emergency medical condition unless: (1) The individual or his or her representative makes a written request for transfer to another medical facility after being informed of the risk of transfer and the transferring hospital's obligation under the statute to provide additional examination or treatment; (2) a physician has signed a certification summarizing the medical risks and benefits of a transfer and certifying that, based upon the information available at the time of transfer, the medical benefits reasonably expected from the transfer outweigh the increased risks; or (3) if a physician is not physically present when the transfer decision is made, a qualified medical person signs the certification after the physician, in consultation with the qualified medical person, has made the determination that the benefits of transfer outweigh the increased risks. The physician must later countersign the certification.\6\

\6\See 42 U.S.C. 1395dd(c)(1)(A).

Physician and/or hospital misconduct may result in violations of the statute.\7\ One area of particular concern is physician on-call responsibilities. Physician practices whose members serve as on-call emergency room physicians with hospitals should make sure they are familiar with the hospital's policies regarding on-call physicians. This can be done by reviewing the medical staff bylaws or policies and procedures of the hospital that must define the responsibility of on-call physicians to respond to, examine, and treat patients with emergency medical conditions. Physicians should also be aware that, in most cases, on-call physicians must come to the hospital to examine the patient when a request is made for their services. If, however, their offices are located in a hospital-owned facility on contiguous land or on the hospital campus, the patient may be seen in the physician's office.

\7\Hospitals and physicians, including on-call physicians, who violate the statute may face stiff penalties. Those penalties include civil fines of up to $50,000 (or not more than $25,000 in the case of a hospital with less than 100 beds) per violation and exclusion of a physician from participation in the Federal health care programs.