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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
hospitals; patient immigration status; reporting
Purpose
Requires hospitals that accept payment from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) to include on patient admission forms a place to indicate citizenship status and prescribes quarterly reporting requirements.
Background
Information received and records kept by the Department of Health Services (DHS) are available to the public unless the information: 1) is personally identifiable medical information or any information from which a patient or the patient's family may be identified; 2) is personally identifiable information of a physician; 3) is obtained to review health care utilization or certain health care practices; or 4) causes DHS to believe that an inspection of an institution is needed to determine compliance. However, DHS may disclose the information to an officer of the court pursuant to a court order, a state department or agency or the federal government, a law enforcement agency or county medical examiner if the release of this information is necessary and pertinent to an investigation or proceeding, unless prohibited by federal or state law. The recipient must maintain patient and source name confidentiality (A.R.S. § 36-404).
DHS may not require any reports from health care institutions to be filed beyond annually unless such filings are otherwise required by state or federal law or result from necessary processing of applications or requests filed by such institutions (A.R.S. § 36-408).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires a hospital that accepts AHCCCS to include a place on the hospital's admission or registration form for a patient, or the patient's representative, to state or indicate whether the patient is lawfully or unlawfully present in the United States or a U.S. citizen.
2. Stipulates that the inquiry must be followed by a statement that the patient's response will not affect the patient's care or result in a report of the patient's immigration status to immigration authorities.
3. Requires each hospital to submit a quarterly report to DHS within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter that states the number of hospital admissions or emergency department visits within the previous quarter made by a patient who indicated whether the patient is a U.S. citizen, is lawfully or unlawfully present in the United States or declined to answer.
4. Requires, on or before March 1 of each year, DHS to submit a report to the Governor, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that:
a) includes the total number of hospital admissions and emergency department visits for the previous calendar year in which the patient or patient's representative reported the patient's citizenship status or declined to answer; and
b) describes information relating to the costs of uncompensated care for aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, the impact of the uncompensated care on the cost or ability of hospitals to provide services to the public, hospital funding needs and other related information.
5. Requires DHS to provide a copy of the report to the Secretary of State.
6. Allows DHS to adopt rules relating to:
a) the format and information to be contained in quarterly reports; and
b) the acceptable format for hospitals to use in requesting information regarding a patient's immigration status on admission and registration forms.
7. Prohibits rules prescribed by DHS from requiring the disclosure of a patient's name or any other personal identifying information.
8. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
January 30, 2025
KJA/AG/slp