HB 144

By July 1, 2026 and by July 1 of each subsequent year, this bill requires the department of health to submit to the governor, the senate speaker, and the house s peaker a report of the total number of hospital admissions and emergency department visits for the previous year for which the patient or patient's representative reported that the patient was (i) a citizen of the United States or lawfully present in the U nited States , (ii) n ot lawfully present in the United States , and (iii) d eclined to answer. The report must describe information relating to the costs of uncompensated care for a person who is not lawfully present in the United States, the impact of uncom pensated care on the cost or ability of hospitals to provide services to the public, hospital funding needs, and other related information. This bill requires each hospital that accepts medicaid to include such question on a p atient's admission or regist ration forms . The question must be followed by a statement that the response will not affect patient care or result in a report of the patient's citizenship status to law enforcement or to the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement of the United St ates department of homeland security. Such hospitals must report, w ithin 30 calendar days after the end of each quarter, to the department of health with the number of hospital admissions and emergency department visits with the responses from the previou s quarter. This bill authorizes t he department of health to promulgate rules to effectuate this bill . However, the rules must not require the disclosure of patient names or other personal identifying information to the department of health.