Articles: emergency-services.
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Health Care Law Newsl · Feb 1995
Special report on patient care. The new federal patient-dumping regulations: some commonly asked questions and answers.
Until both providers and government surveyors become more familiar with the new EMTALA regulations, there will be an uncomfortable period of adjustment, and perhaps some turmoil as well, particularly regarding the new requirement that facilities who receive suspicious transfers report those transfers to HCFA. Providers should carefully examine their internal policies on discharge and transfer of emergency patients to assure that those policies are consistent with the new regulations. Particular attention should be given to inservice training for medical and support personnel in the emergency department, because they must precisely comply with the law and their errors can subject the hospital to costly investigations and potential fines of $50,000 for each violation.
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Properly staffed and equipped EDs are essential to a modern system of health care. In a relatively brief period, emergency medicine has emerged as a major medical specialty. ⋯ If sufficient support for the specialty can be secured, the future of emergency medicine is bright. If not, the nature of emergency care in the United States will be profoundly changed for years to come.
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We have saved a minimum of $17,064 in personnel salaries of a patient representative (based on minimum wage and no paid benefits) during the past year. Although our liaison program was initially started as a cost-saving measure, the benefits of the program cannot be measured in monetary terms. ⋯ Many of the liaisons were totally unaware of the activities in an emergency department. They now have a greater appreciation for the process of emergency care, and can relate that understanding to patients and families.