CMS Pub. 100-10, ch. 9, § 9110

Definitions provided below that refer to EMTALA are further described in 42 CFR

§489.24 (b):

1. Emergency Medical Condition means:

A. A medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity

(including severe pain, psychiatric disturbances, and/or symptoms of substance

abuse) such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be

expected to result in:

i. Placing the health of the individual (or, with respect to a pregnant woman,

the health of the woman or her unborn child) in serious jeopardy;

ii. Serious impairment to bodily functions;

iii. Serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part; or

B. With respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions:

i. That there is inadequate time to effect a safe transfer to another hospital

before delivery; or

ii. That transfer may pose a threat to the health or safety of the woman or the

unborn child.

2. Labor means the process of childbirth beginning with the latent or early phase of labor

and continuing through the delivery of the placenta. A woman experiencing contractions

is in true labor unless a physician, certified nurse-midwife, or other qualified medical

person acting within his/her scope of practice as defined in hospital medical staff bylaws

and State law certifies that, after a reasonable time of observation, the woman is in false

labor.

3. Participating Hospital means (1) a hospital or (2) a critical access hospital as defined

in §1861(mm)(1) of the Act that has entered into a Medicare provider agreement under

§1866 of the Act.

4. “To Stabilize” with respect to an emergency medical condition as defined in 1.A above,

means to provide such medical treatment of the condition as may be necessary to assure,

within reasonable medical probability, that no material deterioration of the condition is

likely to result from or occur during the transfer of the individual from a facility or, with

respect to an emergency medical condition as defined in 1.B, that the woman has

delivered the child and the placenta.

5. Stabilized –with respect to an emergency medical condition as defined above in 1.A,

means that no material deterioration of the condition is likely, within reasonable medical

probability, to result from or occur during the transfer of the individual from a facility, or,

with respect to an emergency medical condition as defined in 1.B above, that the woman

has delivered the child and placenta.

6. Transfer means the movement (including the discharge) of an individual outside a

hospital’s facilities at the direction of any person employed by (or affiliated or associated,

directly or indirectly, with) the hospital, but does not include such a movement of an

individual who has been declared dead or leaves the facility without the permission of any

such person.

7. Capacity means the ability of the hospital to accommodate the individual requesting

examination or treatment of the transferred individual. Capacity encompasses such things

as numbers and availability of qualified staff, beds, and equipment, and the hospital’s past

practices of accommodating additional patients in excess of its occupancy limits.