Immigration

In our debut episode, hosts Drs. Ayesha Khan & Quincy Moore along with special guest host Dr. Vibha Gupta sit down with our guests, Dr. Mary Cheffers (LA County), Dr. Todd Schneberk (LA County) and Mrs. Mayra Joachin (Attorney, National Immigration Law Center) to discuss what emergency providers should know about their patients with immigration-related issues.

 

Objectives:

Learn the effects of anti-immigrant legislation on seeking care and ED presentation

Learn barriers immigrants and undocumented patients face in seeking care

Learn what rights undocumented patients in the ED have

Learn where you can connect your patients to legal aid and healthcare resources

Know your options when ICE shows up to your ED

 

Resources:

Community health centers, migrant health centers, and free clinics

https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov

https://www.nafcclinics.org/find-clinic

Legal aid

Nonprofit organizations that provide low-cost help https://www.immigrationlawhelp.org

List of lawyers that provide free services via immigration courts https://www.justice.gov/eoir/list-pro-bono-legal-service-providers

Search engine for legal services near you https://www.adminrelief.org

American Immigration Lawyers Association’s online directory https://www.ailalawyer.com

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guilde https://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/find.html

National Immigration Law Center Health Care Toolkits - https://healthtoolkit.nilc.org 

How to make sure your ED is safe space

Signs / posters / message to patients (in various languages)

Know-your-rights cards for patients 

Designating private and public spaces

Make an ED protocol for interaction with ICE authorities

Relationship with legal team 

Transcript

 

Take-home points: 

All ED docs are going to encounter undocumented immigrants in the ED and in the community

Understand the barriers to care- much is related to fear

ED docs can be advocates and create a safe space- create posters, talk to your hospital administration to come up with programs/direct people to resources

Patients present to the ED more and more critically ill because they delay care 

It is important to note that the protections that HIPAA provides as well as the stance on whether or not it is best to document a patient's immigration status in their medical record is controversial. The NILC states "Providers are strongly encouraged to avoid collecting or recording immigration-related information in the event that they are legally required to disclose their otherwise protected information". For further discussion of this challenging question, please reference the NILC Healthcare Toolkit or your hospital's legal department.

Contributors:

Vibha Gupta

Lia Losonczy

Sonali Gandhi

Annette Dekker

Jorge Aceves

 

Funding Acknowledgment - The development of this video podcast series was supported by a section grant of the American College of Emergency Physicians awarded to the ACEP Social Emergency Medicine Section.

In our debut episode, hosts Drs. Ayesha Khan & Quincy Moore along with special guest host Dr. Vibha Gupta sit down with our guests, Dr. Mary Cheffers (LA County), Dr. Todd Schneberk (LA County) and Mrs. Mayra Joachin (Attorney, National Immigration Law Center) to discuss what emergency providers should know about their patients with immigration-related issues.

 

Objectives:

Learn the effects of anti-immigrant legislation on seeking care and ED presentation

Learn barriers immigrants and undocumented patients face in seeking care

Learn what rights undocumented patients in the ED have

Learn where you can connect your patients to legal aid and healthcare resources

Know your options when ICE shows up to your ED

 

Resources:

Community health centers, migrant health centers, and free clinics

https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov

https://www.nafcclinics.org/find-clinic

Legal aid

Nonprofit organizations that provide low-cost help https://www.immigrationlawhelp.org

List of lawyers that provide free services via immigration courts https://www.justice.gov/eoir/list-pro-bono-legal-service-providers

Search engine for legal services near you https://www.adminrelief.org

American Immigration Lawyers Association’s online directory https://www.ailalawyer.com

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guilde https://www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/find.html

National Immigration Law Center Health Care Toolkits - https://healthtoolkit.nilc.org 

How to make sure your ED is safe space

Signs / posters / message to patients (in various languages)

Know-your-rights cards for patients 

Designating private and public spaces

Make an ED protocol for interaction with ICE authorities

Relationship with legal team 

Transcript

 

Take-home points: 

All ED docs are going to encounter undocumented immigrants in the ED and in the community

Understand the barriers to care- much is related to fear

ED docs can be advocates and create a safe space- create posters, talk to your hospital administration to come up with programs/direct people to resources

Patients present to the ED more and more critically ill because they delay care 

It is important to note that the protections that HIPAA provides as well as the stance on whether or not it is best to document a patient's immigration status in their medical record is controversial. The NILC states "Providers are strongly encouraged to avoid collecting or recording immigration-related information in the event that they are legally required to disclose their otherwise protected information". For further discussion of this challenging question, please reference the NILC Healthcare Toolkit or your hospital's legal department.

Contributors:

Vibha Gupta

Lia Losonczy

Sonali Gandhi

Annette Dekker

Jorge Aceves

 

Funding Acknowledgment - The development of this video podcast series was supported by a section grant of the American College of Emergency Physicians awarded to the ACEP Social Emergency Medicine Section.