EMTALA: Your Right to Emergency Hospital Care Explained
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that ensures everyone has access to emergency medical care, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Understanding EMTALA can help you know your rights in a medical emergency.
What Is EMTALA?
EMTALA, enacted in 1986, requires hospitals that participate in Medicare and have emergency departments to:
- Provide a medical screening examination (MSE) to anyone who comes to the emergency department requesting treatment
- Stabilize any emergency medical condition found during the screening
- Provide appropriate transfer if the hospital cannot stabilize the patient and another facility can provide the needed care
Who Is Covered by EMTALA
- Everyone — regardless of citizenship, legal status, insurance coverage, or ability to pay
- Anyone who comes to a hospital's emergency department
- Anyone on hospital property (including the parking lot or sidewalk) requesting emergency care
- Women in active labor
What Hospitals Must Do Under EMTALA
Medical Screening
- Provide an appropriate medical screening exam to determine if an emergency condition exists
- The screening must be performed by qualified medical personnel
- The hospital cannot delay screening to ask about insurance or payment
- The same screening must be provided regardless of the patient's ability to pay
Stabilizing Treatment
- If an emergency condition is found, the hospital must provide stabilizing treatment
- Stabilization means ensuring the condition won't deteriorate during or after transfer
- For women in labor, stabilization includes delivery of the baby and placenta
Appropriate Transfer
- If the hospital can't stabilize the patient, it must arrange an appropriate transfer to a facility that can
- The receiving hospital must have space, qualified personnel, and agree to accept the transfer
- The transferring hospital must provide medical records and appropriate transport
- A patient can only be transferred after stabilization or if the benefits of transfer outweigh the risks
What EMTALA Does NOT Require
- Free care — you will still receive a bill for emergency services
- Continued care after stabilization — the hospital's obligation ends once you're stabilized
- Admission to the hospital — if you can be safely discharged, EMTALA doesn't require admission
- Coverage for non-emergency conditions
EMTALA Violations
Hospitals can face serious penalties for EMTALA violations:
- Fines of up to $50,000 or more per violation
- Loss of Medicare provider agreement
- Civil lawsuits from harmed patients
What to Do If You Believe EMTALA Was Violated
- Document what happened, including dates, times, and names
- File a complaint with CMS by calling 1-800-MEDICARE
- File a complaint with your state health department
- Consult an attorney if you were harmed by the violation
Data sourced from CMS. Visit Medicare Care Compare or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice.
Important
This article explains how hospital quality data works and is for general information only. It is not medical advice and must not be used to decide whether to seek, delay or refuse care — that is a decision for you and a clinician who knows your situation.
CMS quality measures describe care delivered during earlier reporting periods and are refreshed roughly quarterly. A hospital's staffing, services and performance can change well before the published numbers do.
hospiguide.org is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to CMS, Medicare, or any U.S. government agency, and publishes no ratings of its own.
Before acting on anything here, verify current details at Medicare.gov Care Compare or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048.
HospiGuide.org Editorial Team
Our editorial team explains U.S. hospital quality data using official CMS datasets and government publications. We are not medical professionals, we do not recommend hospitals, and we accept no payment for coverage. Every factual claim is checked against a CMS or federal source. Read our editorial policy.
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