Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act
Published 07/11/2019
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires Medicare participating hospitals (including critical access hospitals) to perform the following: provide medical screening examinations to every individual, including women in labor, their unborn child(ren), and newly born infants protected by the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act when they present for care to dedicated emergency departments, which includes labor and delivery departments, or other locations on the hospital campus; provide stabilizing treatment within the hospital’s capabilities to any individual, including a born-alive infant, with an emergency medical condition; if unable to stabilize the emergency medical condition, arrange for an appropriate transfer to another hospital with specialized services for the necessary stabilizing treatment; and accept appropriate transfers of patients with unstable emergency medical conditions if the hospital has the capabilities and capacity to provide necessary stabilizing treatment.