Patient immigration status data collection

(1) Each hospital that accepts Medicaid must include a provision on its patient admission or registration forms for the patient or the patient’s representative to state or indicate whether the patient is a United States citizen or lawfully present in the United States or is not lawfully present in the United States. The inquiry must be followed by a statement that the response will not affect patient care or result in a report of the patient’s immigration status to immigration authorities. (2) Each hospital must submit a quarterly report to the agency within 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter which reports the number of hospital admissions or emergency department visits within the previous quarter which were made by a patient who indicated that he or she was a citizen of the United States or lawfully present in the United States, was not lawfully present in the United States, or declined to answer. (3) By March 1 of each year, the agency shall submit a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives which includes the total number of hospital admissions and emergency department visits for the previous calendar year for which the patient or patient’s representative reported that the patient was a citizen of the United States or lawfully present in the United States, was not lawfully present in the United States, or declined to answer. The report must also describe information relating to the costs of uncompensated care for aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, the impact of uncompensated care on the cost or ability of hospitals to provide services to the public, hospital funding needs, and other related information. (4) The agency may adopt rules relating to the format and information to be contained in quarterly reports and the acceptable formats for hospitals to use in requesting information regarding a patient’s immigration status on hospital admission or registration forms. The rules may not require the disclosure of patient names or any other personal identifying information to the agency.