Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Finally, debriefing from the emergency is an
important step to obtain input with regard to
“lessons learned” for use in the event of future
crises. Administrative and clinical personnel alike
should participate in debriefing the event, and the
information gathered during debriefing, and those
gleaned from the records kept in the Command
Center, should form the basis for the next round
of preparation and mitigation—the first two phases
of emergency planning. In this way, successfully
concluding the response to (and recovery from)
an emergency creates the opportunity for further
improvement in readiness in anticipation of the
unknown but inevitable next emergency.
and Sustaining Community-wide Emergency
Preparedness Systems (2003).
5. Department of Health and Human Services,
Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion, Public Health Guidance for Community-
Level Preparedness and Response to Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Supplement A
Command and Control (Jan. 8, 2004).
6. Emergency Management Institute, U.S. Fire
Administration, Department of Homeland
Security, National Incident Management
System (NIMS), An Introduction,
at
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is700.asp
(last visited Sept. 9, 2004); North Carolina
Hospital
Association,
Hospital
Emer-
VIII. Selected Resources
1. Mark A. Rothstein, et al., Inst. for Bioethics,
Health Pol'y and Law, Univ. of Louisville Sch.
of Med., Quarantine and Isolation: Lessons
Learned fromSARS, AReport to theCenters for
Disease Control and Prevention (Nov. 2003).
2. Lawrence Gostin, Georgetown Univ. Law
Center, The Model State Emergency Health
Powers Act: Public Health and Civil Liber-
ties in a Time of Terrorism (2002 Working
Paper Series in Public Law and Legal Theory
and Law and Economics, Working Paper No.
346504, 2003).
3. GAO Report to Congressional Committees,
Hospital Preparedness: Most Urban Hospi-
tals Have Emergency Plans but Lack Certain
Capacities for Bioterrorist Response, GAO-03-
924 (Aug. 2003).
gency
Incident Command
System,
at
www.ncha.org/public/docs/bioterrorism/
HEICS.pdf. (last visited Sept. 9, 2004).
7. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
1600
Standard
on Disaster/Emergency
Management
and
Business
Continuity
Programs (2004)
at
www.nfpa.org.
Appendix A.A
Application of EMTALA During a Major
Public Health Emergency
Recent events have raised questions regarding
whether a provider's obligations under the Emer-
gency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act
(EMTALA)
59
might be modified or waived in
the event of a major public health emergency.
60
On November 8, 2001, the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an informal
policy statement in response to hospitals' inquiries
regarding the extent of their EMTALA obligations
following the fall 2001 anthrax incidents.
61
Up to
4.
Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations, Health Care at
the Crossroads: Strategies
for Creating
59
Emergency Medical Labor and Active Treatment Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd (2004).
60
Sara Rosenbaum & Brian Kamoie,
Finding a Way Through the Hospital Door: The Role of EMTALA in Public Health Emergencies
,
31 J.L. Med. & Ethics 590, 591 (2003).
61
Letter from Director, Survey and Certification Group, Ctrs. for Medicare and Medicaid Servs., to Regional Administrators, State
Survey Agencies (Nov. 8, 2001) (Question and Answer Relating to Bioterrorism and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor
Act),
available at
www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/survey-cert/110801.asp (last visited Sept. 20, 2004) [hereinafter Letter to Regional
Administrators].
