On June 2, 2017, Anderson, S.C.-based AnMed Health and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General entered into the largest settlement under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (“EMTALA”). AnMed agreed to pay $1,295,000.00 to settle allegations that AnMed involuntarily held behavioral health patients in its emergency department for multiple days on numerous occasions. Specifically, the allegations were that AnMed kept 35 individuals in its emergency department, pursuant to a longstanding policy of not admitting involuntary patients to its psychiatric unit. AnMed’s policies provided that if an individual should be involuntarily committed and did not have financial resources, the attending physician could write an order for the local mental health center to evaluate the patient for commitment to the state mental health system after the patient is medically stable.
Originally Published in the Birmingham Medical News - September 2017.
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