South Carolina H 3120: Hospitals

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3120 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 04, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3120

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 
44-7-55 SO AS TO REQUIRE CERTAIN HOSPITALS TO COLLECT DATA ON THE IMMIGRATION 
STATUS OF PATIENTS, TO REQUIRE HOSPITALS TO REPORT SUCH INFORMATION TO THE DEPARTMENT 
OF PUBLIC HEALTH, AND TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT TO REPORT ANNUALLY TO THE 
GOVERNOR AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE DATA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 7, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is 
amended by adding:

 Section 
44-7-55. (A) Each hospital that 
accepts Medicaid must include a provision on its patient admission or 
registration forms for the patient or the patient's representative to state or 
indicate whether the patient is a United States citizen or lawfully present in 
the United States or is not lawfully present in the United States. The inquiry 
must be followed by a statement that the response will not affect patient care 
or result in a report of the patient's immigration status to immigration 
authorities.

 (B) Each 
hospital must submit a quarterly report to the department within thirty days 
after the end of each calendar quarter which reports the number of hospital 
admissions or emergency department visits within the previous quarter which 
were made by a patient who indicated that the patient 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.

 (C) By 
March first of each year, the Department of Public Health shall submit a report 
to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives which includes the total number of hospital admissions and 
emergency department visits for the previous calendar year for which the patient 
or patient's representative reported that the patient 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. The report must also 
describe information relating to the costs of uncompensated care for aliens who 
are not lawfully present in the United States, the impact of uncompensated care 
on the cost or ability of hospitals to provide services to the public, hospital 
funding needs, and other related information.

 (D) The 
department may promulgate regulations relating to the format and information to 
be contained in quarterly reports and the acceptable formats for hospitals to 
use in requesting information regarding a patient's immigration status on 
hospital admission or registration forms. The regulations may not require the 
disclosure of patient names or any other personal identifying information to 
the department.

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on February 04, 2025 at 04:27 PM