BWH’s Transfer Policy has been revised to reflect changes in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) and to incorporate new access resources for BWH staff. The Policy summary is as follows:
All patients must be accepted by a BWH attending physician; Resources to care for the patient must be available (i.e. bed, unit, operating room)in order for the patient to be accepted;
Inpatients must be transferred to inpatient units. ED patient transfers must first be accepted by the ED attending physician before the patient leaves the ED from which he or she is being transferred.
All inpatient transfers should be referred to MDConnect (877-MDREFER or ext. 8903) to arrange all the required resources and transportation.