Making sense of HCFA's restraint rules.

Hospitals continue to struggle with the Health Care Financing Administration's Condition of Participation regarding the use of restraint and seclusion, and there remain no easy answers, experts say. In light of the continuing ambiguity, Michael H. Allen, past president of Medford, MA-based American Association of Emergency Psychiatry, recommends involving the patient and his or her family as much as possible when discussing treatment options. "Anything done unilaterally is a problem," he says.