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The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requires any hospital that participates in Medicare (all hospitals in Connecticut do) and maintains a dedicated emergency department to (1) conduct an “appropriate screening exam” on anyone who comes to the hospital and asks to be treated and (2) stabilize any emergency condition it detects. If the hospital does not stabilize the condition, it can transfer the patient to another facility but must meet specific conditions before doing so. If it does stabilize the condition, it can discharge the patient, admit him or her to an inpatient room, or transfer the patient to another facility without meeting EMTALA's transfer conditions. Connecticut has only one regulation governing hospital emergency services. It requires each general hospital to provide adequate care at all times for people with acute emergencies (Conn. Agency Regs., § 19-13-D3 (j)). No state law requires hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. But federal tax law conditions hospitals'tax-exempt status on their treating all indigent emergency patients for free and not discriminating among paying patients. OLR report 2001-R-0642, (attached and at http://www.cga.ct.gov/2001/rpt/olr/htm/2001-r-0642.htm) provides more detail on these tax-exempt conditions. State law requires hospitals to post notices in their emergency rooms and other locations about the availability funds they control that are dedicated to providing patient care (“bed funds”).