Navigating EMTALA Rules
Compliance Perspectives: Healthcare Compliance at the Border
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has rescinded its 2022 guidance and accompanying letter that reinforced hospitals' obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to provide...more
I. Key Takeaways - Federal enforcement under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) may be changing after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance issued under the Biden...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published a press release rescinding its June 2022 guidance concerning hospitals’ obligations to pregnant women under the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act...more
The U.S. Senate will likely release additional sections of the reconciliation package this week. It is unlikely the Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, will hold a markup on its portion of the...more
Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in health care regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies,...more
On May 29, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) rescinded its July 11, 2022 guidance (Ref. QSO-22-22-Hospitals) (the “2022 Guidance”) clarifying how the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1965...more
On June 3, 2025, the Trump administration announced (the Announcement) that it would no longer follow Biden-era guidance (the Guidance) that directed hospitals to provide emergency abortions to pregnant women in emergency...more
On June 3, 2025, the Trump Administration announced that it rescinded the Biden Administration’s guidance issued on July 11, 2022. The Biden Administration’s guidance advises hospital providers that, under the federal...more
In a 60-page decision issued on March 20, 2025, Judge Lynn Winmill, a Federal District Judge for the District of Idaho, granted a preliminary injunction that enjoins Attorney General Raúl Labrador and his officers, employees,...more
An Idaho federal court has resolved the tension between that state’s restrictive abortion law and the federal Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) in favor of a hospital system’s obligation to stabilize pregnant...more
Last week, the US District Court for the District of Idaho entered another preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of Idaho’s Total Abortion Ban (IC § 18-622) if the abortion is necessary to stabilize a pregnant woman...more
Government Funding Deadline, Healthcare Program Expirations Approach. Following recent House and Senate passage of their competing budget resolutions, Congress’ attention has now turned to the March 14, 2025, government...more
Hospitals charge a standard evaluation and management services fee (“EMS”) for patients seen in the emergency room, in one of five amounts, depending upon the severity of the visit. This EMS fee is listed in the hospital’s...more
Executive orders and changes to enforcement directives permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and agents from other divisions of the Department of Homeland Security to enter sensitive locations, such as...more
On January 24, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order, titled "Enforcing the Hyde Amendment," revoking President Biden's two Executive Orders 14076 (July 8, 2022) and 14079 (August 3, 2022) that federally protected...more
While hospitals will no longer be formally considered sensitive locations under new immigration directives, health care facilities and providers maintain responsibility to protect access to patient care and confidentiality....more
On his first day in office, President Trump made good on several campaign promises by issuing various immigration-related executive orders. In his inauguration speech, the new president defended his actions by declaring:...more
Access to reproductive health care has been a part of the national debate for years, and even more so since 2022 when the US Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs overturning decades of precedent established under Roe v....more
While we wait for long-anticipated federal regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) addressing the issue of workplace violence in health care, activity continues at the state level....more
On August 13, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and its Center for Clinical Standards and Quality / Quality, Safety & Oversight Group issued its memorandum QSO-24-17-EMTALA (the “Memorandum”),...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the release of updated model signage for use by Medicare-participating hospitals to inform patients of their rights under the Emergency Medical Treatment...more
As a general rule, healthcare employers are required to pay employed physicians and other contracted providers fair market value (FMV) for their services, but many employers do not understand relevant regulatory standards. ...more
Iowa’s fetal heartbeat law, House File 732, which was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds in 2023, will go into effect on Monday, July 29. The law has been temporarily enjoined from enforcement since last July, however a...more
On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Idaho v. United States on procedural grounds and sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit. By doing so, the Supreme Court reinstated the preliminary injunction issued by the...more
On June 27, 2024, the United States Supreme Court temporarily restored the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) exception to Idaho’s abortion ban. As a result, Idaho hospitals may perform abortions in EMTALA...more