OIG Enforcement Actions: EMTALA Patient Dumping Settlements · February 13, 2026 · Primary source
West Tennessee Healthcare Agreed to Pay $340,000 for Allegedly Violating Patient Dumping Statute by Failing to Provide Appropriate Medical Screening Examinations and Appropriate Transfers
Summary
On February 13, 2026, West Tennessee Healthcare (WTH), operating two community hospitals in Tennessee, entered into a $340,231.20 settlement with OIG resolving allegations that it violated EMTALA on six occasions across both facilities. OIG found four failures to provide appropriate medical screening examinations, covering patients presenting with neurological symptoms after a fall, serious burn injuries, and a psychiatric crisis, and two failures to effectuate appropriate transfers, involving suicidal and homicidal patients transported by private vehicle with family members rather than by qualified professionals. The settlement covers incidents occurring between February and July 2024.
What this may mean
The settlement imposes a $340,231.20 CMP on a multi-hospital district and identifies six distinct EMTALA violations, covering both the medical screening examination obligation and the transfer certification requirement. The two transfer violations directly concern behavioral health patients with suicidal and homicidal ideation being transported by private vehicle rather than by trained professionals, putting BH/SUD treatment facilities and emergency departments on notice that EMTALA's transfer requirements extend to the mode and qualifications of transport personnel. Hospitals that discharge or transfer psychiatric patients via informal arrangements with family members face enforcement exposure under this enforcement pattern.
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