Denied emergency health care? Feds pledge to expedite patient complaints.
Source: Washington Post
Updated May 21, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. EDT|Published May 21, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
Patients who say they were denied emergency abortions and other emergency care can now file complaints directly with the federal government, officials announced Tuesday.
Officials from the Biden administration say that overhauling the process — which historically has been led by state agencies and involved a complex series of decisions — will expedite the federal government’s ability to investigate patients’ complaints and provide more transparency into emergency care access.
Federal officials also highlighted that patients have a right to emergency health care and have created a web portal for them to send complaints directly to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which enforces the federal emergency care law, rather than to a state agency.
“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,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/05/21/emergency-abortions-health-care-emtala/
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Link to HHS NEWS RELEASE - Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Option to Report Potential Violations of Federal Law and Continue to Promote Patient Access to Stabilizing Emergency Care