Hospitals weigh patient warnings amid ICE involvement

As U.S. immigration officials receive access to Medicaid beneficiary data, hospitals and states are unsure whether to warn patients who are immigrants, according to a Feb. 6 KFF Health News report. 

Healthcare facilities are facing a dilemma: Telling patients the Department of Homeland Security may access their personal information could deter them from signing up for Emergency Medicaid, which reimburses hospitals for treating immigrants ineligible for standard Medicaid coverage, according to the report. But if hospitals do not disclose this, patients could risk being found by immigration officials. 

In summer 2025, HHS officials ordered CMS to provide the personal data of Medicaid enrollees, including immigration status and home addresses, to DHS. Nursing associations pushed back, saying such a data transfer is a “betrayal of trust.” Clinicians reported some patients are delaying or avoiding care in fear of immigration officials’ presence in medical settings. 

More than 20 states sued to block sharing Medicaid data with DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Twenty-eight states and Washington, D.C., did not sue, meaning the federal government can freely share those states’ CMS data with ICE, according to KFF Health News. 

KFF Health News contacted more than a dozen hospitals in states that have seen increased ICE presence, and many declined to comment on whether they have changed disclosure policies. Among those that responded, none said they are directly warning patients, according to the report. 

The post Hospitals weigh patient warnings amid ICE involvement appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.