Laura A. Dixon
Every hospital with an emergency department that accepts Medicare and Medicaid payments must follow federal law and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Conditions of Participation Interpretive Guidelines on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
Hospitals without EDs must comply with EMTALA if they have specialized capabilities. For example, EMTALA can impact obstetrical patients and behavioral health patients. CMS made changes to include the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act with an updated survey memo.
This two-part series will cover the regulations and interpretive guidelines regarding EMTALA and all 12 sections and tag numbers. It also will offer an additional section for on-call physicians and the shared and community care plan process.
The series also will include a discussion on two EMTALA cases. The first — Moses v. Providence Hospital and Medical Centers, Inc., No. 07-2111 (6th Cir. April 2009) — created an enormous expansion of hospital and practitioner liability under federal law. The case overruled the CMS regulation that EMTALA obligations end when the hospital admits the patient in good faith. This illustrates the importance of understanding case law, which has a role in the outcome of EMTALA litigation. The second is a recent case against a hospital, the largest EMTALA settlement of $1.2 million. Health care is anticipated to see more considerable EMTALA fines and more activity because of the higher fines and the Office of Inspector General's final changes. These changes are not in the CMS CoPs and will be reviewed in this series.
Objectives:
Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:
Who Should Attend:
Laura A. Dixon served as the Director, Facility Patient Safety and Risk Management, and Operations for COPIC from 2014 to 2020. In her role, Ms. Dixon provided patient safety and risk management consulting and training to facilities, practitioners, and staff in multiple states. Such services included the creation of and presentations on risk management topics, assessment of healthcare facilities; and development of programs and compilation of reference materials that complement physician-oriented products.Ms. Dixon has more than twenty years of clinical experience in acute care facilities, including critical care, coronary care, peri-operative services, and pain management. Prior to joining COPIC, she served as the Director, Western Region, Patient Safety and Risk Management for The Doctors Company, Napa, California. In this capacity, she provided patient safety and risk management consultation to the physicians and staff for the western United States. Ms. Dixon’s legal experience includes representation of clients for Social Security Disability Insurance providing legal counsel and representation at disability hearings and appeals, medical malpractice defense, and representation of nurses before the Colorado Board of Nursing. As a registered nurse and attorney, Laura holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Regis University, RECEP of Denver, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Drake University College of Law, Des Moines, Iowa, and a Registered Nurse Diploma from Saint Luke’s School Professional Nursing, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado and California.
