Many hospitals use cell phones internally and externally for daily operations. Many of their emergency plans assume that they will be available even if local phone service is interrupted, but a little-known case before the US Supreme Court involves secret government plans to shut off cell phone service during emergencies. According to the brief filed … Read more
The Arkansas state claims commission has recommended the state pay a disabled patient $2 million for a surgery allegedly conducted on the wrong side of a 15 year old boy’s brain. The University of Arkansas hospital and doctors were determined by the commission to be responsible for the injuries and “fraudulently concealed” the fact of … Read more
A California court of appeals ruling that a Conditions of Admissions (COA)form is a binding financial contract has the unintended consequence of confirming previous CMS citations based on obtaining signature to the COA prior to completion of the Medical Screening Examination. The Nolte v. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center case ruled that a patient could not avoid … Read more
DRAPER, Utah – Paramedics in a Juab County ambulance became patients Friday after Utah Highway Patrol Troopers said the psychiatric patient they were transporting caused it to roll, according to media reports. State police were quoted as indicating that the patient somehow accessed the driver’s compartment and grabbed the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to … Read more
Martin Luther King Community Hospital opened its doors last week in the Watts area of Los Angeles on the same grounds as it deceased predecessor King/Harbor hospital, but with a much smaller capacity and hopes of a better fate. The original hospital served the area from 1972 until 2007 when the death of a patient … Read more
QUESTION: We are getting ready to switch from a paper handwritten log to an electronic log. My question is this … is there anything specific other than name, date, time, compliant and discharge disposition? ANSWER: CMS will want the discharge times also. Many state hospital regulations also have log requirements that must be incorporated. You … Read more
QUESTION I work on a behavioral health unit at an EMTALA hospital. When our unit is full the admission staff has been told it is our responsibility to find placement for patients that come into the emergency room. Is it legal for us to find placement for patients in the emergency room when we cannot … Read more
We have added a new page to our RESOURCES section of the website to list the current contact information for the CMS regional offices. For EMTALA information you usually ask for the “EMTALA person” or Standards and Enforcement. If you have received a notice from CMS you should contact the person referenced in the notice … Read more
One of the house-keeping errors that can get a hospital cited for EMTALA violations is the form elements of the list: CASE EXAMPLE: In this case, CMS did an on-call list review which revealed the on-call list for urology and cardiology did not contain the name of the physician on call each day. The lists … Read more
CMS citations are allegations and should not be considered as conclusive on the facts. Submission of a plan of correction is not an admission of wrong-doing. CMS cited a GA hospital for four separate EMTALA incidents where the allegations were: Based on interviewing and record review the hospital failed to ensure that the the on-call … Read more