Stabilizing Care Obligation

• The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or EMTALA requires all hospitals who accept payments from Medicare and Medicaid to assess the condition of any patient who walks through an emergency room's doors and administer stabilizing care as needed. Stabilizing care is defined as treatment which sufficiently addresses a patient's injury or illness to the point that his discharge from the hospital will not cause a significant risk to his health. Basically, a hospital cannot refuse you for care if your injuries or illness could pose a significant risk to your health if you don't get treatment.
  
  

Transfer of Patients

• A qualifying hospital under EMTALA may transfer a patient who is in need of stabilizing care in the event the hospital does not have adequate facilities to treat the patient. The hospital requesting the transfer is required to ensure the hospital the patient is sent to has adequate facilities to treat the patient and will actually accept the patient for care. It is illegal for a hospital under EMTALA to simply dump a patient on another hospital because the hospital believes the patient may not be able to pay for treatment.
  
  

Women in Labor

• According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a woman who is in active labor is considered to be undergoing a medical emergency. Any EMTALA hospital that admits a woman in active labor is required to assess her condition and commence delivery of the child. An exception to this rule occurs when sufficient time exists to conduct a safe transfer of the patient to a hospital with better delivery room facilities. What constitutes a safe transfer of a woman in active labor is ultimately the decision of medical staff.
  
  

Non-Participating Hospitals

• A hospital that does not accept Medicare or Medicaid payments is not governed by EMTALA regulations. This means if the hospital maintains an emergency room, it is not required to accept a patient who does not have insurance or may not be able to pay for treatment. A hospital like this is also referred to as a "for profit" hospital. Such an institution has no legal obligation to treat a patient who's unable to pay, although the hospital may still administer stabilizing care to a patient in a medical emergency in order to avoid a potential lawsuit down the road.