EMTALA Answer Book, 2007 Edition

Avoid fines, bad publicity, and exclusion from Medicare! Stave off legal threats and easily comply with EMTALA regulations.The EMTALA Answer Book provides easy-to understand answers to difficult EMTALA questions: Who is responsible for determining the stability of a patient for transfer? What if an appropriate medical screening examination results in a misdiagnosis? When do a hospital's EMTALA obligations end? When can a hospital transfer a patient who is in labor? Does EMTALA apply to a minor who comes to the hospital for emergency care? Does EMTALA apply to patient transfers by helicopter or airplane? Does an air-transport that simply uses a hospital's property as a landing site trigger EMTALA obligations for the hospital? May a hospital transfer patients according to local EMS community-wide plans? Are peer review files and quality assurance committee reports protected from discovery in an EMTALA lawsuit or investigation? Can on-call physicians utilize telemedicine services to respond to the emergency department call for assistance? And many, many more! Organized in convenient Q&A format, this unique reference shows how EMTALA affects not only emergency physicians but on-call physicians, specialists, and hospitals. And it shows how the feds have stepped up enforcement against EMTALA violations. The EMTALA Answer Book helps you: Realize how new case law has increased your legal risks Avoid all the legal land mines embedded in EMTALA Develop policies and procedures that help your hospital and affiliated clinics comply with EMTALA Reconcile patient needs with the cost cutting demands of managed care Leave a trail of documentation that protects you against EMTALA claims. Created by an emergency staff physician who knows the dangers EMTALA poses to providers, The EMTALA Answer Book clarifies the law's most baffling terminology, alerts you to legal inconsistencies, and shows you how to prudently sidestep disastrous legal trouble.