The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently solicited comments on whether it should reinterpret EMTALA in such a way that the law would continue to apply, at least in some circumstances, after a patient has been admitted to the hospital. 

During this 60-minute audio conference briefing, physician and industry expert Robert Bitterman MD, JD, FACEP will provide an update on CMS’s reconsideration of whether EMTALA should apply to inpatients, a federal appellate court’s application of EMTALA to inpatients and rejection of CMS’s current interpretation of the law, and whether higher-level hospitals must accept transfers of inpatients from other facilities irrespective of the law’s application to the transferring hospital.  

Learning Objectives:

• Inform emergency physicians, hospital risk managers, hospital administrators, and health care attorneys of the potential application of EMTALA to inpatients.
• Review CMS’s interpretation of the law with respect to inpatients, its current regulations on point, and its recent decision to reconsider the issue and seek input from experts and the public on whether to apply EMTALA to inpatients.
• Discuss federal appellate court interpretations of the law, including the 6th Circuit opinion that refused to accept CMS’s regulations on the issues, and held that EMTALA applied through admission and discharge. 
• Recommend practical steps hospitals can take to avoid regulatory and civil liability under EMTALA related to the care or transfer of inpatients. 
• Answer questions related to the application of EMTALA to inpatients and the related intended and unintended consequences. 

Target Audience:

• Emergency Physicians 
• On-call Physicians 
• Risk Managers 
• ED and Hospital Managers 
• Hospital Legal Counsel 
• Compliance Officers 
• Anyone responsible for accepting or rejecting transfers on behalf of their hospital 

Level: All levels 

Meet Your Expert:

Robert A. Bitterman, MD, JD, FACEP is board certified in Emergency Medicine and an active member of the State Bar of North Carolina. He is the President and CEO of Bitterman Health Law Consulting Group, Inc., with offices in Charlotte, NC and Harbor Springs, MI. Dr. Bitterman is the author of the widely used EMTALA book titled “Providing Emergency Care under Federal Law, EMTALA.”

Accreditation Statement:

AHC Media is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AHC Media is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Credit Designation:

AHC Media designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity has been approved for 1 nursing contact hours using a 60-minute contact hour.

Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider # 14749, for 1 Contact Hours.

Sponsor:

The sponsor of this educational activity is AHC Media.

Recorded: Wednesday, December 7, 2011