Description
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is one of the most critical yet misunderstood regulations in Healthcare. What is Anti Dumping? Who is intended to be protected by this act?
- Outline what is guaranteed as well as what is not guaranteed within this act.
- Discuss the fines provided for by the act and include examples of hospitals which have been fined for not complying with this act.
- Describe and analyze the conditions under which a hospital is permitted to transfer a patient without healthcare coverage.
Use resources from the Week 1 assignment and the following from South University Library as necessary.
Terp, S., Seabury, S. A., Arora, S., Eads, A., Lam, C. N., & Menchine, M. (2017). Enforcement of the emergency medical treatment and Labor act, 2005 to 2014. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 69(2), 155-162.e1. doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2016.05.021
Zuabi, N., Weiss, L. D., & Langdorf, M. I. (2016). Emergency medical treatment and labor act (EMTALA) 2002-15: Review of office of inspector general patient dumping settlements. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 17(3), 245-251. doi:10.5811/westjem.2016.3.29705
McDonnell, W. M., Gee, C. A., Mecham, N., Dahl-Olsen, J., & Guenther, E. (2013). Does the emergency medical treatment and labor act affect emergency department use? The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 44(1), 209. doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2012.01.042
Week 1 Assignment is below:
You have been presented an outstanding opportunity to serve as a graduate student intern for the chief executive officer (CEO) of a large HCO. The HCO is an HMO model and originated approximately a century ago as a small rural hospital. Due to the rural setting, the HMO model flourished and, over the years, expanded throughout the region. Today, the HMO has a presence in over eighteen counties and has a number of competing interests from for-profit and not-for-profit HCOs in the region.
The board of directors recently approved the acquisition of two regional hospitals. First, the HCO decided to acquire a small rural critical-care-access hospital in a relatively remote county. The interest in acquiring the hospital is to service the existing population and expand the reach of the HMO. Second, the HCO decided to acquire a private full-service hospital in a moderate-size city (population forty-two thousand). The HCO’s move is strategic in nature, preventing the sale of the hospital to its for-profit competitor, and will gain the region its sole emergency department level 2 (two) trauma center with helicopter transport while giving the HCO the ability to service its growing HMO membership in the area.
Based on the above information:
- Evaluate the various HMO models (staff, group, and network) and identify the model that would probably be best suited for the region. Justify your answer.
- Research and comment on the importance and applicability of the various levels of emergency department trauma care. Investigate the exemptions afforded to a critical care rural hospital with respect to Medicare reimbursement and accreditation.
The following resources are provided for this assignment:
- American Trauma Society, (2017). Trauma center levels explained. Retrieved from: http://www.amtrauma.org/?page=traumalevels
- American College of Surgeons. (2017). Verified trauma centers FAQ’s. Retrieved from: https://www.facs.org/quality%20programs/trauma/vrc..
