Navigating EMTALA Rules
Compliance Perspectives: Healthcare Compliance at the Border
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently rescinded its July 2022 guidance titled “Reinforcement of EMTALA Obligations specific to Patients who are Pregnant or are Experiencing Pregnancy Loss” (“2022...more
I. Key Takeaways - Federal enforcement under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) may be changing after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rescinded guidance issued under the Biden...more
On June 3, 2025, the Trump administration announced (the Announcement) that it would no longer follow Biden-era guidance (the Guidance) that directed hospitals to provide emergency abortions to pregnant women in emergency...more
In a 60-page decision issued on March 20, 2025, Judge Lynn Winmill, a Federal District Judge for the District of Idaho, granted a preliminary injunction that enjoins Attorney General Raúl Labrador and his officers, employees,...more
Mifepristone is safe for now. On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously held that the plaintiffs — doctors and medical associations alike — lacked standing to challenge 2000 and 2019 FDA approvals of mifepristone (brand...more
The Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) at the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued final regulations (“Reproductive Health Care Rule”) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of...more
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the consolidated cases of Moyle v. United States, Case No. 23-726 and Idaho v. United States, Case No. 23-727. These cases asked the justices to consider whether the...more
As we’ve discussed in previous alerts (here and here), after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion and returned the question of abortion regulation to the states,...more
On May 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced two investigations of hospitals that failed to offer necessary stabilizing care to a pregnant individual experiencing an emergency medical...more
On April 17, 2023, OCR published a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) that would expand protections for reproductive health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Proposed Rule...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (Proposed Rule) on April 12, 2023, proposing amendments to the Health Insurance Portability and...more
In response to concerns about the confidentiality of protected health information (PHI) related to reproductive health care less than one year after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, and the prospect of...more
As states enact and enforce various laws restricting, prohibiting, and even criminalizing abortion and other reproductive health care services, HIPAA rules that allow disclosure of patient information become potential privacy...more
In the landmark case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the US Supreme Court overturned its prior rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which had recognized a...more
On January 5, 2023, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld Idaho's near-total abortion ban (I.C. § 18-622), Idaho's fetal heartbeat (“6-week”) abortion ban to the extent it is not superseded by the near-total abortion ban (I.C. §...more
On January 5, 2023, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s near Total Abortion Ban (I.C. § 18-622), its 6-Week Abortion Ban (I.C. 18-8804 to -8805), and its related Civil Liability Law (I.C. § 18-8807). Planned Parenthood v....more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released to the public on Dec. 5, 2022, new training materials (Training Materials) on the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) consisting of a new, high-level...more
Since the US Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs) in June 2022, the impact of the Court’s decision continues to ripple across the health care delivery system. In this multi-part series,...more
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) requires hospitals with emergency departments and participating in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) programs to provide medical screening, treatment and...more
Federal litigation was in the spotlight last week with two major decisions related to the Biden-Harris administration’s Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) guidance on providing abortion services as emergency...more
In eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion, the United States Supreme Court’s July 24, 2022 decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, returned the question of abortion regulation to the “people...more
Idaho’s total abortion ban took effect August 25, 2022. Under the statute, abortion of a clinically diagnoseable pregnancy is illegal unless necessary to save the life of the mother or in the case of rape or incest. (Idaho...more
The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization represents a sea-change in Constitutional law that has already impacted our country in multiple ways. By overruling Roe v. Wade (1973)...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, state attorneys general are, not surprisingly, joining the frontlines of the ensuing state-by-state debate on abortion rights. ...more
In a newly filed lawsuit against the State of Idaho, the federal government argues that Idaho’s “near-total ban on abortion,” scheduled to take effect on August 25, 2022, overreaches by prohibiting abortion even where federal...more