Hospitals must plan discharges for pregnant patients showing signs of labor

Hospitals must create a discharge plan and discuss it before releasing a patient who meets these conditions. This applies when the hospital identifies a patient as pregnant, the patient has signs or symptoms consistent with labor, and the treating health-care professional documents a clinical judgment that the patient is expected to leave before delivery. The hospital must discuss the plan with the patient, the patient’s agent, or the patient’s lay caregiver. If the patient or the patient’s agent declines to help make the plan, the hospital must promptly record that refusal. The plan must be discussed before the patient is discharged.

Hospitals must put the plan in the patient’s medical record and include required safety information. These requirements apply to the discharge plan for a pregnant patient who meets the labor-sign and expected-before-delivery conditions. The plan must explain the clinical reason for discharge, give aftercare instructions, and say that staff explained them to the patient, the patient’s agent, or the patient’s lay caregiver. It must assess travel time and distance from the patient’s main home, verify reliable transportation, and identify another hospital or facility where the patient may get labor and delivery care.