Hospitals won’t have to ask about immigration status

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has told the American Hospital Association that hospitals will not be required to report a patient’s immigration status to receive funding for uncompensated emergency care provided to undocumented immigrants.

The Medicare Modernization Act included $250 million for each of the next four years to offset the costs of providing care to undocumented immigrants, but to qualify for that funding, CMS’ proposed implementation plan posted in July would have required hospitals to obtain direct evidence of emergency patients’ immigration status.