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Content: HOSPITAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR INDIGENT PEOPLE
HOSPITAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR INDIGENT PEOPLE
Location: EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE; HOSPITALS; June 26, 2009

2009-R-0248
HOSPITAL EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR INDIGENT PEOPLE

By: Saul Spigel, Chief Analyst
You asked for a summary of laws governing how hospitals must treat indigent people who present with emergency conditions, particularly those governing their transferring such people to other facilities. SUMMARY
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., §