ED leaders urge passage of emergency medical act
The leading national organizations representing ED physicians and nurses have urged the passage of the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2005 (H.R. 3875), introduced in mid-September by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), and asked Congress to pass it quickly.
Specifically, the act would:
- recognize hospital EDs as the backbone of our nation’s health care safety net;
- provide hospitals with financial incentives to end boarding of admitted patients in EDs, to help end gridlock and save lives during natural disasters and acts of terrorism;
- extend liability protection to on-call specialists and emergency physicians who provide care mandated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
Frederick C. Blum, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, says, "The U.S. health care system is collapsing, and nowhere is that more apparent than in our nation’s emergency departments. Hurricane Katrina also made it clear: We must expand the surge’ capacity of our nation’s hospitals."
The Emergency Nurses Association added their voices and concern. "We are here on behalf of emergency nurses across the country who fight daily to provide optimal care in emergency departments that are overflowing with patients," said ENA president Patricia Kunz Howard, PhD, RN, CEN.
Malpractice, overcrowding, and some form of funding for mandated unfunded care are the key issues at stake, according to Maureen Olson, MD, FACEP, of Emory Eastside Medical Center in Snellville, GA, and Northside Hospital in Atlanta. Olson led the Georgia state delegation to a late September rally in Washington, DC, supporting the new act. The rally was attended by more than 3,500 emergency physicians and nurses. "The whole reason boarding has come into play is because hospitals have closed down or reduced beds, [due to the lack of] funding for uninsured patients, and the nursing supply shortage," she says.
All of these problems relate to funding, which the act would provide, she says. It also would provide some funding for the EMTALA-mandated uninsured patients, Olson notes. The act calls for total funding of more than $10 million for the fiscal year. "Plus, on-call specialists and emergency physicians need liability insurance [assistance] so they will not get overwhelmed with huge premiums and huge litigation awards," she says.
The leading national organizations representing ED physicians and nurses have urged the passage of the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2005 (H.R. 3875), introduced in mid-September by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), and asked Congress to pass it quickly.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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