The University of Chicago Medical Center’s initiative to divert patients that it deems not to be emergencies to other nearby hospitals and clinics is coming under some severe criticism.

A national emergency doctors’ group Thursday said that the policy is “dangerously close” to violating federal laws.  The American College of Emergency Physicians, a group representing 26,000 physicians in the country, issued a statement that said it has “grave concerns that the University of Chicago’s policy toward emergency patients is dangerously close to ‘patient dumping.’” Transferring or discharging a sick patient for financial reasons violates federal law.  Medical experts debate the law at issue that allows for varying degrees of medical judgment on who is admitted and who is cared for elsewhere.

The national physicians’ group reportedly charged the U of C’s Urban Health Initiative as a way to “‘cherry pick’ wealthy patients over poor” and expressed fear that if other hospitals did the same, “It will leave many emergency patients virtually out in the cold.”

The physicians’ group is accusing the university of “failing in its obligation to treat emergency patients” by reducing the number of inpatient beds for emergency patients in an effort to cut costs.  The issue came to light last week when a 12-year-old boy on Medicaid was treated at U of C following a pit bull attack but was transferred to another hospital for surgery.

U of C officials have defended themselves saying that the group’s criticism were “reckless and uninformed and based on hearsay.”  They said its policy is about getting patients the right treatment at the appropriate location in tough economic times.

Earlier this month, the hospital, located on Chicago’s South Side in Hyde Park, announced an effort to trim $100 million from the hospital’s budget.  One of the initiatives was it decision to send patients who do not require urgent care to be transferred to other hospitals and clinics in order to allow its emergency room staff to focus on more complex treatment.