Tip: Avoid these EMTALA risk areas
Healthcare Auditing Weekly, January 15, 2008
The following items often fall through the cracks when conducting Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986 (EMTALA) audits and compliance reviews of documentation and hospital practices, says Jean Lambert, RN, MBA, CIA, PMP, project leader at Froedtert & Community Health in Milwaukee. Check the following items to ensure a thorough audit of EMTALA risk areas:
- Ascertain patient status at point of transfer and make sure staff members carefully document vital signs, conditions, and patient stability
- Assure and document accepting physician
- Maintain appropriate transfer log
- Maintain appropriate on-call log
- Remember a medical screening exam is not triage
- Abide by on-call requirements of specialists
- Review the timing of registration/financial processes so there is no delay in patient care
- Look at requests for transfer to other facilities
- Ensure receiving hospital has an accepting physician as well
- Document patient consent to transfer
- Document physician certification of transfer benefits
- Ensure medical records accompany patient or follow within a reasonable time.
- Understand that responsibility for arrangement of appropriate transport [BLS versus ACLS] rests on the transferring hospital
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