Committee advances hospital reporting bill after sharp debate over immigration questions
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Summary
SB 10-51, which would require hospitals to collect patients’ citizenship status on registration forms and report aggregated counts, received a due-pass recommendation after doctors and nurses warned it would erode trust and deter care while supporters framed it as transparency and accounting.
Lawmakers on the Health & Human Services Committee recommended SB 10-51, a bill that would require hospitals accepting ACCESS payment to include a field on registration forms asking whether a patient is a U.S. citizen, lawfully present, or unlawfully present and to submit quarterly aggregate reports to the Department of Health Services.
Sponsor Senator Wendy Rogers said the measure is an accountability step so Arizonans can "know how much is being spent" on care for noncitizens and repeatedly stressed that EMTALA and federal protections for emergency care remain in force. "This is so that Arizonans know how much is being spent," she said.
Doctors and nurses testified in force against the bill. "This bill forces hospitals to collect information about a patient's immigration status. That is not health care. That is surveillance," said Barbara Esquivel Garcia, a registered nurse. Tucson surgeon Sarah Lee Davidson said the American Medical Association has warned that immigration enforcement activity in or near hospitals "fuels fear among patients and hospital staff alike." She said such policies can cause people to delay care, produce worse outcomes and spread disease.
Witnesses and legislators clashed over whether the measure would be primarily an accounting tool or a deterrent to care; the committee nevertheless moved SB 10-51 with a due-pass recommendation. Several members said they were voting to advance the proposal while reserving questions about implementation and public-health effects for the floor.