Navigating EMTALA Rules
Compliance Perspectives: Healthcare Compliance at the Border
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
Almost 40 years after its passing, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) remains not only a key consideration for hospitals with emergency departments, but also a significant federal enforcement...more
On May 21, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new option on CMS.gov to allow individuals to more easily file an Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) complaint. Before launching the...more
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the consolidated cases of Moyle v. United States, Case No. 23-726 and Idaho v. United States, Case No. 23-727. These cases asked the justices to consider whether the...more
CMS’s New Actions Related to EMTALA - On January 22, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), it will launch a comprehensive plan...more
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has increasingly focused its efforts on investigating hospital emergency departments for potential violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA),...more
On May 1st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced investigations into two hospitals that did not provide necessary stabilizing treatment to a pregnant individual experiencing an emergency medical...more
On April 17, 2023, the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify the Standards for Privacy for Individually Identifiable...more
In Idaho, persons under the age of 18 (“minors”) may consent to their own healthcare in only limited circumstances. General Rule: Obtain Consent from Parent or Surrogate Decision Maker. Idaho Code § 39‑4503 sets forth...more
One year ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the decades of decisions that had followed it, resting authority to regulate or prohibit abortion with the citizens of each state. But one year after Dobbs, the legal...more
On May 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced two investigations of hospitals that failed to offer necessary stabilizing care to a pregnant individual experiencing an emergency medical...more
The impending end of the COVID-19 national and public health emergency will present a complicated landscape to navigate for hospital systems, which look to minimize the impact of the transition to post-pandemic normality....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
In 1986 the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted. As Mary Ellen Palowitch, Senior, Managing Director, Dentons Health Care Group, explains in this podcast, just because it is long established doesn’t...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Proposed Rule) on April 12, 2023, proposing amendments to the Health Insurance Portability and...more
As states enact and enforce various laws restricting, prohibiting, and even criminalizing abortion and other reproductive health care services, HIPAA rules that allow disclosure of patient information become potential privacy...more
The Biden Administration has announced that the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 will expire at the end of the day on May 11, 2023. During the COVID-19 PHE, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)...more
On 10 March 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (the DOJ) appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals an amended final decision by the Northern District of Texas (the Texas District Court) that struck down U.S. Department...more
The terms clinically stable and stable for transfer are frequently used by and familiar to emergency department and hospital staff. When it comes to compliance with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in...more
On January 30, 2023, President Biden announced that both the COVID-19 national emergency and the public health emergency (PHE) will end May 11, 2023. This announcement has left many healthcare providers considering how the...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released to the public on Dec. 5, 2022, new training materials (Training Materials) on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) consisting of a new, high-level...more