Title: ACEP // EMTALA Fact Sheet
Headings: EMTALA Fact Sheet
EMTALA Fact Sheet
Main Points
What is EMTALA?
How does EMTALA define an emergency?
What is EMTALA's scope?
What are the provisions of EMTALA?
What are the requirements for transferring patients under EMTALA?
What are the penalties for violating EMTALA?
Who pays for EMTALA-related medical care?

Content: ACEP // EMTALA Fact Sheet
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EMTALA Fact Sheet
EMTALA Fact Sheet
Main Points
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that requires anyone coming to an emergency department to be stabilized and treated, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay, but since its enactment in 1986 has remained an unfunded mandate. The burden of uncompensated care is growing, closing many emergency departments, decreasing resources for everyone and threatening the ability of emergency departments to care for all patients. Emergency physicians provide the most charity care of all physicians (AMA 2003). ACEP advocates for recognition of uncompensated care as a legitimate practice expense for emergency physicians and for federal guidance in how fulfill the requirements of the EMTALA mandate in light of its significant burden on the nation's emergency care system. Everyone is only one step away from a medical emergency. What is EMTALA? EMTALA was enacted by Congress in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 (42 U.S.C. §1395dd). Its original intent and goals are consistent with the mission of ACEP and the public trust held by emergency physicians. Referred to as the "anti-dumping" law, it was designed to prevent hospitals from transferring uninsured or Medicaid patients to public hospitals without, at a minimum, providing a medical screening examination to ensure they were stable for transfer. As a result, local and state governments began to abdicate responsibility for charity care, shifting this public responsibility to all hospitals.