WESTERN REGION COMPLIANCE POLICIES & PROCEDURES
EMTALA
Medical Screening
Policy Number: 002
Effective Date: 01/01/2003
Last Reviewed: 01/01/2003; 01/04/2004
Last Revision: 01/01/2003
Policy Owner: Compliance Manager
PURPOSE: To ensure that all patients coming to a Cleveland Clinic Health System – Western
Region Hospital requesting emergency services receives an appropriate Medical Screening
Examination as required by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act
(EMTALA), 42 U.S.C., Section 1395 and applicable Federal regulations and interpretive
guidelines.
POLICY:
Any patient who comes to a Cleveland Clinic Health System – Western Region
Hospital requesting emergency services regardless of diagnosis or financial status, is entitled to
and will receive a Medical Screening Examination within the capabilities of the hospital’s
emergency department, performed by individuals qualified to perform such examination to
determine whether an emergency medical condition exists.
PROCEDURES
A. General Requirements
In general, when an individual comes to the emergency department of the
hospital, and a request is made on the individual’s behalf for a medical
examination or treatment, the hospital must provide for an appropriate Medical
Screening Examination within the capability of the hospital’s emergency
department, including ancillary services routinely available to the emergency
department, to determine whether an emergency medical condition exists, or with
respect to a pregnant woman having contractions, whether the woman is in labor.
B. Medical Screening Requirements Outside of the Emergency Department
1.
If an individual arrives at the hospital and is not technically in the emergency
department, but on Hospital Property or Premises and requests emergency
care, he or she must receive a Medical Screening Examination within the
capabilities of the facility or, if necessary, be Appropriately Transferred. The
following factors should be considered to assess the facility’s capabilities:
a).
b).
c).
The facility’s physical space, equipment, supplies and services:
The facility’s resources and personnel necessary to provide
adequate medical treatment to the patient presenting with an
emergency condition; and
Whether non-hospital paramedics, emergency medical technicians,
or other qualified personnel are readily present and able to
respond.
Cleveland Clinic Health System – Western Region hospitals may not
establish a policy that prohibits personnel from leaving the hospital to
examine and/or treat an individual in the need of emergency services in the
immediate vicinity of the hospital. Furthermore, a hospital may not meet its
EMTALA obligations merely by summoning Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) personnel, but must use EMS in conjunction with Hospital personnel
to treat and move an individual who is already on Hospital Property or
Premises.
2.
An individual in a non-hospital-owned ambulance, which is on hospital
property, is considered to have come to the hospital’s emergency department.
An individual in a non-hospital-owned ambulance not on the hospital’s
property is not considered to have come to the hospital’s emergency
department when the ambulance personnel contact the hospital by telephone
or telemetry communications.
A hospital, which is not in diversionary status may not refuse to accept a
telephone or radio request for transfer or admission.
A hospital may deny access to patients when it is in “diversionary” status
because it does not have the staff or facilities to accept any additional
emergency patients at that time. However, if the ambulance disregards the
hospital’s instructions and brings the individual on to hospital grounds, the
individual has come to the hospital, and the hospital cannot deny the
individual access to hospital services.
C. Medical Screening Examination Location
1.
The Medical Screening Examination and other emergency services need not
be provided in a location specifically identified as an emergency room or any
emergency department. If an individual arrives at a facility and is not
technically in the emergency department, but is on the premises of the hospital
and requests emergency care, he or she is entitled to a medical screening
© Cleveland Clinic Health System 2003
examination. For example, all pregnant women may be directed to the labor
and delivery area of the hospital. The hospital may use areas to deliver
emergency services, which are also used for other inpatient or outpatient
services. Medical Screening Examinations or stabilization may require
ancillary services available only in areas or facilities of the hospital outside of`
the emergency department.
2.
Patients may be directed to other hospital-owned facilities which are
contiguous (i.e., any area within the hospital or a hospital-owned facility on
land that touches land where a hospital emergency department sits) or is part
of the hospital’s “campus” and is owed by the hospital, and is operated under
the hospital’s provider number. Physicians’ offices may be defined as such a
facility, provided they are located in a hospital-owned building which is
contiguous or located in hospital-owned building which is “on campus.”
However, the hospital should not remove the patient to a non-contiguous or
off-campus facility for the Medical Screening Examination or other
emergency services.
In order for the patient to be appropriately directed to the hospital-owned
contiguous or on-campus facility, three conditions must be met:
a) All persons with the same medical condition are moved to this location
regardless of their ability to pay for treatment.
b) There is a bona fide medical reason to move the patient: and
c) Qualified medical personnel will accompany the patient.
D. How to Provide Medical Screening Exam
1.
Hospitals are obligated to perform the Medical Screening Examination to
determine if an emergency medical condition exists. It is not sufficient to
merely “log in” a patient and not provide a Medical Screening Examination.
2.
This Medical Screening exam must be provided to any individual regardless
of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, marital status, sexual
orientation, physical or mental disability.
3.
Individuals coming to the emergency department must be provided a medical
Screening Examination beyond initial triage. Triage is not equivalent to a
Medical Screening Examination. Triage merely determines the “order” in
which patients will be seen, not the presence or absence of an emergency
medical condition.
© Cleveland Clinic Health System 2003
4.
The Medical Screening Examination includes both a generalized assessment
and a focused assessment based on the patient’s chief complaint, with the
intent to determine the presence or absence of an emergency medical
condition.
5.
The Medical Screening Examination must be the same Medical Screening
Examination that the hospital would perform on any individual coming to the
hospital’s emergency department with the same signs and symptoms,
regardless of the individual’s ability to pay for medical care. If the Medical
Screening Examination is performed and does not reveal an emergency
medical condition, the hospital has no further obligation under EMTALA or
this policy.
6.
Depending on the patient’s presenting symptoms, the Medical Screening
Examination requires different levels of care ranging from a simple process
involving only a brief history and physical examination to a complex process
that also involves performing ancillary studies and procedures such as (but not
limited to) lumbar punctures, clinical laboratory tests, CT scans and other
diagnostic tests and procedures.
7.
A Medical Screening Examination is not an isolated event. It is an on-going
process. The record must reflect continued monitoring according to the
patient’s needs and must continue until he/she is stabilized or appropriately
transferred. There should be evidence of this evaluation prior to discharge or
transfer.
E. Effects of Managed Care Requirements on the Medical Screening Examination
1.
Every individual who comes to the hospital’s emergency department and
requests a medical examination or treatment must be provided a Medical
Screening Examination, which must not be delayed to inquire about the
individual’s method or payment or insurance status.
2.
Cleveland Clinic Health System – Western Region hospital procedure may
permit personnel to obtain relevant insurance coverage information prior to a
Medical Screening Examination, provided that, there is no delay or possibility
of delay in providing the Medical Screening Exam, and the hospital must not
require prior authorization before the patient has received a Medical Screening
Examination to determine the presence or absence of an emergency medical
© Cleveland Clinic Health System 2003
condition or before an existing emergency medical condition has been
stabilized.
3.
4.
If the patient withdraws his or her request for examination or treatment, an
appropriately trained individual from the Emergency Department staff will
discuss the medical issues related to a voluntary withdrawal. In the
discussion, the emergency department staff member will:
a).
Offer the patient further medical examination and treatment as
may be required to identify and stabilize an emergency medical
condition.
b).
Inform the patient of the benefits of the examination and treatment,
and of the risks of withdrawal prior to receiving the examination
and treatment.
c).
Ask the patient to sign a form, which shall be completed by the
emergency department staff member. If the patient refuses to sign
the form, a description of risks discussed and of the examination
and/or treatment that was refused shall be documented.
If the patient leaves the hospital without notifying Hospital personnel, this
should be documented. The documentation must reflect that the patient had
been at the Hospital and the time the patient was discovered to have left the
premises. Triage notes and additional records must be retained.
F. Who May Perform the Medical Screening Examination
1.
2.
Medical Screening Examinations must be performed by individuals who are:
a).
Determined qualified by hospital medical staff bylaws, rules and
regulations which are approved by the hospital’s Board of Trustees
or other governing body; and
b).
Functioning within the scope of their license and in compliance
with State Law and applicable State Nursing and Medical Practice
Acts.
Facilities must establish processes to ensure that;
a).
An emergency department physician on duty is responsible for the
© Cleveland Clinic Health System 2003
general care of all patients presenting themselves to the
emergency department; and
b).
The responsibility remains with the emergency department
physician until the patient’s private physician or an on-call
specialist assumes that responsibility, or the patient is discharged.
REFERENCES:
Social Security Act, Section 1867, 42 U.S.C. 1395dd, Examination and Treatment for
Emergency Medical Conditions and Women in Labor
HCFA Site Review Guidelines, State Operations Manual
42 Federal Registrar 489.24 (a) and 489.24 (c), Special Responsibilities of Medicare Hospitals in
Emergency Case.
© Cleveland Clinic Health System 2003