5-3 Short Paper Impact of EMTALA
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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630
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Medicine
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by ConstablePrairieDog3998
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5-3 Short Paper: Impact of EMTALA
SNHU EMTALA is Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. This was made so that everyone who needs to get seen as an emergency gets the same treatment regardless of their
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background, skin color, race, ethnicity or if they have health insurance or not. This act was also put in place so anyone who got treated was not transferred for a reason that is not appropriate. The EMTALA was put into place when COBRA came into play in 1986. There were three main purposes that the EMTALA act was put into place. They were “For any person who comes to a hospital emergency department, the hospital must provide for an appropriate medical screening exam to determine whether or not an emergency medical condition exists.” The second
reason was that if there is a medical emergency condition then the hospital must stabilize the medical condition either in that facility or transfer to a facility that will treat the patient. The third
reason is that the hospitals that have more specialized capabilities are obligated to accept the transfer of the patient if they have the room for the patient. These three reasons seem fair and easy to follow for the best interested in the patient and the facility that the patient goes to. All these three rules have to be followed regardless of if the patient has insurance or if they are able to pay out of pocket. When it comes to that, the facility is
not supposed to assume and accept the patient and care for them. If any of those rules are violated facilities will be charged a penalty. The hospital can be made to close its doors for good or if the physician can lose its title and have to leave the facility. A fee can be up to $108,826 per violation, this is what the Office of Inspector General shows. Violations occur when a patient has a complaint about what happened when they were in that facility’s care. Another reason facilities get violations is that they have miscommunication, and it results
in the patient getting the care they need. No one is perfect in this world, and we all make
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mistakes. They just have it harder because they are in the healthcare industry, and they are there to care for people. People who have worked in the medical field for years say that EMTALA is not great of the hospitals. They take time from actual emergencies. They have people walking into the doors just to make sure that they are ok and nothing is wrong with them because they do not have a primary care physician even though it is an emergency room it is for emergencies only not to be going to check yourself out to making sure that everything is OK health wise that is why there is primary care physicians for that and a lot of people to this day don't have one and seem to think the emergency room is a great place to go and get checked. EMTALA was put into place to protect the rights of patients that need to go to the emergency room and getting the care they need regardless if they have insurance or not the people however are not aware of this EMTALA that was put into place and seem to think they could just go into the emergency whenever they want I think people need to be more aware of this so they are not taking the attention that real emergencies need because they are just going to go to make sure that they are good on their blood sugar levels or any small healthcare thing that they need that a primary care physician can care for. Reference
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Cruz, M. (2020, June 23). The Problem with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act
(EMTLA). Policy Review @ Berkeley. https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~prb/the-problem-
with-the-emergency-medical-treatment-and-labor-act-EMTALA/
Impact of EMTALA (2019). Emra.org. https://www.emra.org/books/advocacy-handbook/impact-
of-emtala/