CMS rescinds Biden-era guidance on EMTALA

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has rescinded Biden-era guidance documents on the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA), a longstanding federal law that requires hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to all patients with emergency medical conditions. The guidance reminds hospitals of their obligation to provide emergency abortion care under EMTALA, regardless of whether abortion is banned under state law. 

Now, according to CMS, this guidance does not “reflect the policy” of the Trump administration. The decision to rescind this guidance comes just three months after President Trump’s Department of Justice dropped the government’s litigation efforts to enforce EMTALA protections for emergency abortion care in Idaho. Significantly, while the rescission does not alter EMTALA’s requirements regarding the provision of stabilizing treatment, including abortion, it does amplify existing confusion at hospitals in every state where abortion is banned. Read our full statement here.