Catch to Federal Funds: Hospitals Must Question Immigrant Patients
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. [
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