State v. Chalice Renee Zeitner

JUSTICE LOPEZ, opinion of the Court:

¶1 The issue in this case is whether the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System ("AHCCCS") statutory scheme, A.R.S. §§ 36-2901 to -2999.57, abrogates, or creates an exception to, Arizona's statutory physician-patient privilege, A.R.S. § 13-4062(4), in cases of suspected AHCCCS fraud. We hold that it does in two ways. First, the Arizona legislature's grant of broad authority to AHCCCS to investigate suspected fraud necessarily implies an exception to the privilege for internal AHCCCS investigations and proceedings. And, second, the AHCCCS statutes…