ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Emergency care for illegal immigrants doesn't have to be a total loss
 
If you're sick of writing off emergency-room care provided to uninsured illegal immigrants, take comfort in a little-noticed provision in the recent Medicare reform legislation.
     
The bill, signed into law Dec. 10, includes a provision that would establish a $1 billion fund for 2005 through 2009 to reimburse providers for care provided under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
     
EMTALA mandates that your facility must provide a medical screening examination to all patients who arrive at your doors and stabilize their condition - unless you don't have the resources to do so. Providers have long complained that the law, in essence, requires them to provide free care to uninsured patients.
 To read more about the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, check out these Internet links:

  Official Medicare site: www.Medicare.gov
  White House summary of bill: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/medicare/
  Legislative text: http://www.house.gov/medicarerx/hr1-conflegtext.pdf
  Conference agreement: http://www.house.gov/medicarerx/hr1jtexplstate.pdf
  Bill summary: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/healthdocs/confagreement.pdf