Admitting privileges

An admitting privilege is the right of a doctor to admit patients to a hospital for medical treatment. This is generally restricted to doctors on the hospital staff, although in some countries such as Canada family physicians can have admitting privileges.^[1]

Admitting privileges have been used as a tool to attack abortion providers in several U.S. states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Texas.^[2] This means the doctor is unable to provide an abortion to a patient unless that doctor has admitting privileges, regardless of where the procedure occurs.^[3] Supporters of these laws state they are about safety. ^[2] The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists considers requiring admitting privileges for abortions to be unnecessary given that "[i]n 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services removed its requirement that ambulatory surgical centers participating in Medicaid and Medicare have hospital admitting privileges, asserting they were unnecessary in the promotion of patient health, an inefficient use of health care dollars, and an administrative barrier to efficient operations".^[4] The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo that some restrictions based on admitting privileges were unconstitutional.^[5]

References

See also

• Hospital admission