Catch to Federal Funds: Hospitals Must Question Immigrant Patients  

Friday, August 20, 2004 at 07:45AM
TheSpook

Utah hospitals can get up to $1.55 million  in federal funds to help cover the costs of providing emergency  care to undocumented immigrants -- but there's a catch. To receive the funds, part of $1 billion to be distributed  nationwide over four years under a new Centers for Medicare and  Medicaid Services policy, hospitals would have to question patients  about their immigration status. Under the new guidelines, photocopies of passports, visas,  border crossing cards or other documents that establish the  patient's status should, if available, be included in the patient's  file. Jill Vicory of the Utah Hospital and Health Systems Association  said determining a patient's immigration status could "in some  cases cost more than it's worth. "Anybody who comes in without insurance will have to be  approached as undocumented." she said. Vicory said it is not known how many undocumented patients are  treated, but in 2001, Utah hospitals spent more than $97 million in  charity care and covered about $128 million in bad debt. [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).