State v. Zeitner, 782 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 4 (App. Div. I, January 16, 2018) (J. Johnsen)

Defendant was convicted of defrauding the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System ("AHCCCS") by lying to a physician to obtain coverage for an abortion. She attempted to assert the physician patient privilege, A.R.S. §13-4062(4),  to block the admission into evidence of her medical records to prove the fraud.  The trial court ruled the privilege was abrogated by the AHCCCS fraud statute and therefore the medical records were admissible. The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed.

While Arizona does not have a common law fraud exception to the physician patient privilege it does have several statutory exceptions. Here  A.R.S. §36-2918.01(A) requires physicians to report suspected AHCCCS fraud.  This statute abrogates the privilege.