1Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
2University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati.
Neurosurg Focus. 2020 Nov;49(5):E8. doi: 10.3171/2020.8.FOCUS20587.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) protects patient access to emergency medical treatment regardless of insurance or socioeconomic status. A significant result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rapid acceleration in the adoption of telemedicine services across many facets of healthcare. However, very little literature exists regarding the use of telemedicine in the context of EMTALA. This work aimed to evaluate the potential to expand the usage of telemedicine services for neurotrauma to reduce transfer rates, minimize movement of patients across borders, and alleviate the burden on tertiary care hospitals involved in the care of patients with COVID-19 during a global pandemic. In this paper, the authors outline EMTALA provisions, provide examples of EMTALA violations involving neurosurgical care, and propose guidelines for the creation of telemedicine protocols between referring and consulting institutions.
《紧急医疗救治与主动分娩法案》（EMTALA）保护患者获得紧急医疗救治的权利，无论其保险或社会经济状况如何。COVID-19 大流行的一个重要结果是，远程医疗服务在医疗保健的许多方面迅速加速普及。然而，关于 EMTALA 背景下远程医疗使用的文献却很少。这项工作旨在评估扩大神经创伤远程医疗服务使用的潜力，以降低转院率，尽量减少患者跨境移动，并减轻在全球大流行期间参与 COVID-19 患者治疗的三级保健医院的负担。在本文中，作者概述了 EMTALA 的规定，提供了涉及神经外科护理的 EMTALA 违规案例，并提出了在转诊和咨询机构之间创建远程医疗协议的指南。
