On May 24, 2024, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) published a Notice of Proposed Rule to amend Rule 59A-3.270, Florida Administrative Code, “Health Information Management.” The proposed rule amendments are intended to incorporate the requirements of section 395.3027, Florida Statutes, related to reporting of patient immigration status data. In addition, AHCA seeks to update AHCA Form 3190-2001OL, “Quality Measures and Patient Safety Information,” to align with statutory requirements.
Section 395.3027, enacted by the Florida Legislature in 2023, requires every Florida hospital that accepts Medicaid to submit a quarterly report to AHCA disclosing the number of hospital admissions or emergency department visits within the previous quarter by a patient who indicated that he or she was a citizen of the United States or lawfully present in the United States, was not lawfully present in the United States, or declined to answer. In order to collect this information, such hospitals must include a provision on their patient admission or registration forms for the patient or the patient’s representative to indicate whether the patient is a United States citizen or otherwise lawfully present in the United States, or is not lawfully present in the United States.
AHCA’s proposed amendments to Rule 59A-3.270 provide specifics on when and how to report the required quarterly patient immigration status information. Of note:
- Separate quarterly reports are required for each licensed hospital. A hospital may submit a single report for more than one campus if:
- All campuses share the same license number. The primary campus is listed on the reporting form as the reporting hospital.
- The reporting form lists all campuses included in that submission.
- Failure to list a campus on the reporting form for a report covering more than one campus will result in the report being returned and deemed not accepted.
The draft quarterly Patient Immigration Status reporting form may be found here: Draft Quarterly Patient Immigration Status Form.
In addition to proposed rule amendments directed to patient immigration status, AHCA is also updating its Hospital Quality Measures and Patient Safety Information form, relevant to all Florida hospitals. The current form may be found here. In addition to general formatting changes, AHCA proposes to add to the reporting form patient satisfaction survey response rate. The proposed updated form may be found here: Draft Hospital Quality Measures Patient Safety Information Form.
AHCA has set aside June 27, 2024, from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm for a rule hearing, IF ANY PARTY REQUESTS IT.
For further guidance or more information, please contact your Gunster Health Care Law expert.
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This publication is for general information only. It is not legal advice, and legal counsel should be contacted before any action is taken that might be influenced by this publication.
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