Title: How EMTALA Transformed Health Care - Hospitals and Health Networks
Headings: Twenty-five years ago, EMTALA was signed into law, transforming health care in ways that are still being felt today.
The Law That Changed Everything—and It Isn't the One You Think
Twenty-five years ago, EMTALA was signed into law, transforming health care in ways that are still being felt today.
Complex Origins
What Does It Mandate?
Violations Still Occur, But…
Still Controversial
What Has Been Its Impact?
Unanswered Questions
A Sea Change

Content: And so, in 1985, a four-page provision called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act was inserted into the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which was duly passed and eventually signed by President Ronald Reagan on April 7, 1986. What Does It Mandate? There are many misconceptions about what the law requires of hospitals. It does not outlaw transfers of patients who cannot pay or who are otherwise deemed undesirable. It does not (at least as of this writing) require that hospitals provide all care in perpetuity to a patient who receives an evaluation in the ED. It allows for waivers in some situations, such as natural disasters. What it does require: That all patients seeking care in an emergency department be evaluated by a competent clinical professional, and if found having a condition requiring emergency care must be treated until stabilized before any transfer. For women in active labor, the hospital must deliver the baby unless the institution is not equipped to do so (as in the case of a high-risk pregnancy and the lack of a neonatal ICU). The hospital to which a stabilized patient (or one who must be transferred because the originating hospital does not have the necessary services or personnel) is to be sent must agree to accept the patient.