Examining the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act: impact on telemedicine for neurotrauma

Sanjit Shah; George L. Yang; Diana T. Le; Christina Gerges; James M. Wright; Ann M. Parr; Joseph S. Cheng; Laura B. Ngwenya

doi:10.3171/2020.8.FOCUS20587

Examining the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act: impact on telemedicine for neurotrauma

Sanjit Shah, George L. Yang, Diana T. Le, Christina Gerges, James M. Wright, Ann M. Parr, Joseph S. Cheng, Laura B. Ngwenya

Neurosurgery

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) protects patient access to emergency medical treatment regardless of insurance or socioeconomic status. A significant result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rapid acceleration in the adoption of telemedicine services across many facets of healthcare. However, very little literature exists regarding the use of telemedicine in the context of EMTALA. This work aimed to evaluate the potential to expand the usage of telemedicine services for neurotrauma to reduce transfer rates, minimize movement of patients across borders, and alleviate the burden on tertiary care hospitals involved in the care of patients with COVID-19 during a global pandemic. In this paper, the authors outline EMTALA provisions, provide examples of EMTALA violations involving neurosurgical care, and propose guidelines for the creation of telemedicine protocols between referring and consulting institutions. https://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2020.8.FOCUS20587

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	Neurosurgical focus
Volume	49
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3171/2020.8.FOCUS20587
State	Published - Nov 2020

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© 2020 © AANS 2020, except where prohibited by US copyright law

Keywords

COVID-19
EMTALA
TBI
coronavirus
neurotrauma
subarachnoid hemorrhage
telemedicine
traumatic brain injury

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abstract = "The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) protects patient access to emergency medical treatment regardless of insurance or socioeconomic status. A significant result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rapid acceleration in the adoption of telemedicine services across many facets of healthcare. However, very little literature exists regarding the use of telemedicine in the context of EMTALA. This work aimed to evaluate the potential to expand the usage of telemedicine services for neurotrauma to reduce transfer rates, minimize movement of patients across borders, and alleviate the burden on tertiary care hospitals involved in the care of patients with COVID-19 during a global pandemic. In this paper, the authors outline EMTALA provisions, provide examples of EMTALA violations involving neurosurgical care, and propose guidelines for the creation of telemedicine protocols between referring and consulting institutions. https://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2020.8.FOCUS20587",

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Examining the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act: impact on telemedicine for neurotrauma

Abstract

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