Health-care facilities are required to report another health-care facility if it is suspected that the other facility is violating EMTALA. If a facility is found to violate EMTALA, that facility could be fined or even lose its participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, hospitals' own policies may limit dumping. Many not-for-profit hospitals are required to provide some level of charity care beyond EMTALA.

There are exceptions to the antidumping law: If a person is being brought to an emergency room by ambulance, the hospital may divert the ambulance to another facility if it is full or cannot handle the problem. In some instances, though, an unstable patient will need to be transferred to get specialist treatment at another hospital. To do this, the doctor must certify that the benefits of the treatment you will get at the next hospital outweigh the risks of the transfer.

EMTALA requires that the hospital provide treatment to stabilize patients, but it does not require the hospital to provide treatment after stabilization. EMTALA is a limited antidumping law. It is not a malpractice law.