Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act - Assignment Example

Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act Background In the year, 1986 Congress, which is an organ of the Consoli d Omnibus Reconciliation Act, formed Emergency Treatment and Labour Act, EMTALA.The primary plan has have were to guarantee that the public had access to any emergency services. The organ developed was to ensure that the services provided to patients were fair and that they were provided regardless of the ability to pay. According to section 1867 of the Social Security Act, it is a requirement that there be the provision of medical screening examination (MSE) in all the Medicare offering hospitals. The Medical Screening examination should be readily available when requested or needed for examination or treatment in case of an emergency condition. The section, 1867, also required that the Medicare-participating hospitals to also offer active labour efficiently and not considering the payment capabilities of the patients. The Section also requested that a hospital should provide appropriate and correct emergency medical treatment and stabilize the condition to a patient if found to have an emergency condition. In a situation where the hospitals physician finds out that the patients condition is quite unstable, it recommend for a transfer if and only if there is a guarantee that the transfer helps stabilize the state. Hospitals can accept requests for transfer of patient if they have specialized facilities to cater for the unstable conditions. Some of the specialized services that and hospital should have so as to accept the requests include; burn units. In hospitals, EMTALA functions and responsibilities are usually incorporated in the Medicare provider agreement. According to the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), all hospitals should meet all the provisions EMTALA.In addition: offer screening examination, give appropriate and accept transfers and necessary stabilizing facilities, keep their patients informed and updated on their rights to testing and treatment. Moreover, EMATLA also requires hospitals to keep proper records of patients’ transfers, and report any transfers that it considers as appropriate. If a hospital does not meet all the requirements of EMATALA, it is immediately terminated on the basis that it has violated and breached the agreement. The responsibilities of EMATALA involve all the Medicare specialists and the hospitals’ emergency department staff. Hospitals are expected to keep a record of all the on-call physicians who can complete the medical screening exams. The Medicare agreement also requires that hospitals should offer stabilizing treatment for any service that the hospital promotes itself to the community. Penalties are imposed on both the hospital and the specialist if the on-call technician does not report to the emergency department so as to provide stabilizing treatment. The penalties are not imposed on the professional if and only if the experts were unable to perform the particular treatment. (Richards, 2012, p. 591). Development Many people in almost each and every community in the world usually depend upon treatment and Medicare facilities that only a few of them have the appropriate information. Some individuals get to know about the Medicare facilities and procedures during medical and trauma emergencies where the immediate medical emergency is required. It is during such situations of medical emergencies when lifesaving interventions and immediate transfer to the hospital that some people get know of Emergency Medical System. EMATALA or the emergency medical system is usually activated in situations of medical and trauma emergencies. Even though EMATALA plays a significant role in the Medicare treatment, it is a relatively young industry since its formation in April 1986. During its time of formation, there was a limited pre-hospital care service and those available were only provided by either the local hospital or by a group of volunteers. The industry is still growing and expanding to provide better and efficient Medicare treatments to patients. The emergency system has been evolving and upgrading at a recommendable pace since its formation in 1986 by the Congress. Considering that in the past emergency Medicare treatments were only by volunteers or only at the local hospitals it is with no doubt it is improving. The quick improvements in the industry are as a result of private companies venturing into the industry as an opportunity to make money. The involvement of private companies in the industry has occurred in the provision of quality and improved Medicare treatments as compared to the local hospitals. Many residents of different communities in different parts of the world are acknowledging the improved Medicare treatments. City funded Fire and Rescue services are another industry just like the EMATALA that is undergoing through positive improvements. The industry has a very high labour and operation costs. For instance according to statistics the number of fires recorded in 2011 was less than those recorded in 1977 by a million. Many cities have implemented training programs for EMS for their fire-fighters so as to ensure that they deliver their work well. The training programs for the fire-fighters are encouraged so as to justify their payrolls which indicate that the cities spend a lot on paying them. However, the training program requires much money potential since it turns fire-fighters into EMTs who can handle 911 calls. Many conflicts have resulted from the implementation of EMS to fire-fighters, which in the end have compromised patient care. (Risk sharing arrangements for pharmaceuticals: potential considerations and recommendations for European payers," 2010). Future Many questions of how EMATALA will look like in the future have regularly been asked because of the integration and merging of fire-fighters with EMS program. In the future due the converging of the two industries it might become difficult for some industries to regulate EMS. However, several pre-hospitals Medicare treatment services have been able to converge the two services efficiently, despite the fact that it is quite a hard and complicated move. However, the successful converging and efficient coexisting of both the private and public sectors is quite hard and complicated. In the process of coexisting the two, conflicts emerge between the personnel and the duplication of resources on a single call. These problems and conflicts lead to inadequate patient Medicare treatment services. The problems do not seem to have a solution because there are no clearly stipulated regulations on how the two industries should relate and work. In the future, policies need to be put in place stating how the two sectors should work together. EMTALA will become a private industry from a public industry in the future because of the private companies taking over the system (Martinez & Manzoni, 2010, pp. 6-20). Health impact EMTALA has ensured that patients are not denied any form of urgent medical care on the grounds of their financial status. Hospitals are currently expected by EMTALA agreement to stabilize their emergency services. EMTALA has resulted in many Centres that offer Medicare and Medicaid services not to get compensation for their works. Since EMTALA requires a patient to be attended to with or without money, it has resulted to piling up of many unpaid medical bills in health care providers’ centres. The effect of the unpaid bills affects those who pay the unpaid bills costs are shifted onto them. Hospitals are not able to move costs to those able to pay due to the influence of managed care and other control initiatives by insurance companies. The end results of not able to shift the costs are the writing of the unpaid and uncompensated bills (EMTALA). Economic impact In the 20th century, a significant economic expansion in history was experienced, where a total of 44 million citizens of the United States were registered as uninsured in 1998. However, the number of uninsured persons gradually decreased to 42.6 in 1999. The decrease in the number was linked to the improvement in the economy. The present trend of a slow growing economy might result in an increase in the number of the uninsured persons. Research indicates that many uninsured patients use hospital emergency departments as a means of accessing the health care system. It is due to the issue of uninsured patients that EMTALA was formed so as to help patients have direct access to emergency services. The main aim of forming EMTALA was to ensure that all patients get the right Medicare treatment even when their financial status does not allow them the access. EMTALA has helped ensure the provision of emergency care to each and every patient that presents their medical emergency to the department of emergency. It does no matter whether the patients can afford the treatment or not, but EMTALA guarantees their treatment effectively. ("Emergency Medical Treatment and Labour Act as a federal health care safety net program. - PubMed - NCBI,"). References Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2010). EMTALA. Health Law Resources - Emergency Medical and Labour Treatment Act (EMTALA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthlawyers.org/hlresources/Health%20Law%20Wiki/Emergency%20Medical%20and%20Labor%20Treatment%20Act%20%28EMTALA%29.aspx Martinez, F. J., Toh, C. K., Cano, J. C., Calafate, C. T., & Manzoni, P. (2010). Emergency services in future intelligent transportation systems based on vehicular communication networks. Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, IEEE, 2(2), 6-20. Richards, N. S. (2012). Judicial Resolution of EMTALA Screening Claims at Summary Judgment. NYUL Rev., 87, 591. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act as a federal health care safety net program. - PubMed - NCBI. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11691669 Read More