Fronteras: The Changing American Desk features The Hastings Center website Undocumented Patients as an Editor’s Highlight on its home page. Fronteras Desk is a multimedia collaboration of seven public radio stations across the Southwest focusing on issues along the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and security. It is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of its Local Journalism Center initiative and reaches an audience of about 1 million listeners. Its stories regularly appear in other public media, including Marketplace, NPR,  PBS Newshour and the BBC.

The web­site is part of Undocumented Patients: Human Rights, Access to Health Care, and the Ethics of the Safety Net, a Hast­ings Cen­ter research project that explores eth­i­cal, legal, and pol­i­cy­mak­ing chal­lenges that arise when undoc­u­mented immi­grants liv­ing in the United States need med­ical care. The project examines the greatest health needs of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., how they currently get their health care and what barriers they face, and how the health care reform law will affect their access to care. The project, led by Hastings Center research scholars Nancy Berlinger and Michael Gusmano, is funded by the Overbrook Foundation Human Rights Program.

The website features:

• issue briefs on the demographic and socioeconomic status of undocumented immigrants, their use of health care, and how U.S. policy affects their access to care  
• an interactive database of key resources featuring selected  journal articles, policy studies, and media reports on undocumented immigrants, the health care safety net, and related issues 
• a news feed, updated continuously, with the latest developments on undocumented immigrants and their access to health care 

New features appearing over the coming months include a special report on the  arguments for providing health care to undocumented patients and offering an ethical framework for clinicians, health care organizations, and others who care for and advocate on behalf of this population. The website will also include updates on journal articles, presentations, and other project activities.