Corporate Compliance

Auditing common EMTALA pitfalls

Healthcare Auditing Weekly, February 1, 2005

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) ensures that all emergency room patients receive care, regardless of their ability to pay. When auditing an emergency room for EMTALA compliance, watch for these common pitfalls:

  • Documenting that the transferring hospital accepted a patient for transfer

  • Establishing physician compliance with on-call responsibilities

  • Ensuring compensation for on-call

  • Appropriately maintaining the central/on-call logs

  • Appropriately sequencing registration/insurance questions to avoid delaying the medical screening exam

  • Posting the appropriate signage to alert patients to their rights under EMTALA

  • Having and following procedures that clarify who can conduct the medical screening exam

    The above tip is an excerpt from the book "Hospital Auditing and Monitoring: Sample Programs for Key Risk Areas." Copyright 2004 by HCPro, Inc. This book is a step-by-step, practical manual that offers sample audit programs for the most troublesome areas that a hospital must audit. The binder and CD-ROM are filled with actual audit programs used by auditors and compliance officers in the field. Click here for more information or to order your copy today.

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