The Biden administration continues to dig its heels in on emergency care requirements, announcing Tuesday the launch of a new web portal for individuals to report potential violations.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted by Congress in 1986 to prevent hospitals from turning away patients with life-threatening health emergencies but has recently become a point of contention in the legal battle over abortion.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the administration’s departments issued notices strongly reinforcing its view that, regardless of state restrictions, hospitals are expected to provide emergency care in cases where an abortion is the standard of stabilizing care.
More recently, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) starting publishing informational resources educating the public on EMTALA requirements and said they would be working with hospitals to support staff training and compliance.
Now, CMS has an online form that allows “anyone”—patients, family members, healthcare workers or others—to file an EMTALA complaint about a hospital emergency department. Individuals have the option to leave contact info or reply anonymously and are prompted to name the specific hospital where their potential violation occurred.
“If an individual believes their EMTALA rights have been violated, it is important that they can easily file a complaint,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a release announcing the filing option. “We want to make sure that everyone knows their rights and can take action to help make sure the health care system is safe for everyone.”
The federal government’s enforcement of EMTALA over state abortion laws has put hospitals in these states in a position of legal ambiguity—though these facilities may find some clarity in the coming months.
The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments from the Biden administration and the state of Idaho, which has a law on the books making it a crime to perform or assist with an abortion (which, since enactment, has been updated to include exceptions for a pregnant person’s life or health). The state and other anti-abortion organizations argued that the administration “reinterprets” the nearly 40-year-old law to specifically outline abortion as a covered service.
Leading medical groups such as the American Medical Association have joined the administration in arguing to the court that abortion meets the bar for a stabilizing treatment under federal law. The top court’s decision on the case will come within the next couple of months.