U. S. Commission on Civil Rights Announces Release of 2014 Statutory Enforcement Report on Patient Dumping

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Sep 30, 2014, 03:30 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today announced the release of its 2014 statutory enforcement report, Patient Dumping, which may be accessed at http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2014PATDUMPOSD_9282014-1.pdf

"Patient dumping" is the practice of hospitals' denying individuals emergency medical screening and stabilization services, or transferring them to other hospitals, once a hospital discovers that the patients are uninsured or have no means to pay for treatment.

The report examines the effectiveness of the federal law that Congress passed to address such practices: the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). The report discusses what policies may be adopted to better protect the rights of the mentally ill, and makes detailed findings and recommendations for improvements. The recommendations include:

Better data collection
Increased regulatory oversight
Non-punitive methods for hospital reporting
Electronic filtering of data that automatically flags inadequate reporting data
Linking budgets of community-based mental health programs with local hospitals to recover costs from patients treated in centers rather than hospitals
Making it mandatory for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to forward all EMTALA cases to the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Increased training and education
Conforming EMTALA's definition of stabilization so that it is consistent with the medical definition
Fostering learning from best practices
Implementing consistent protocols and discharge planning

Martin R. Castro, Chairman of the Commission, stated, "We are pleased to share this important report with the President, Congress and the American people and hope that our findings and recommendations serve to improve the conditions that were presented to the Commission during the briefing."

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency charged with advising the President and Congress on civil rights matters and issuing an annual federal civil rights enforcement report. For information about Commission's reports and meetings, visit http://www.usccr.gov.

Media contact: Marlene Sallo, Staff Director
(202) 376-7700
[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Commission on Civil Rights