title: Number of freestanding EDs up, helping ease overcrowding, serving rural areas.
abstract: Freestanding EDs must look and act exactly like the ED in the main facility to meet Medicare requirements. Facilities must be open 24 hours a day with trained nursing and matching physician credentials. Specialty on-call panel must include the same physicians as the one used by main ED. Moving patients into your main hospital is a direct admit, not an Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act-covered transfer.
mesh_terms: D003441:Crowding; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014481:United States