Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex)
Assemblywoman NANCY F. MUNOZ
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
Assemblywoman CLEOPATRA G. TUCKER
District 28 (Essex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle, Assemblymen Johnson and Calabrese
SYNOPSIS
Requires certain medical facilities to undertake end-of-life planning and training as condition of licensure.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning end-of-life care and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Assisted living facilities, dementia care facilities, hospitals, and long-term care facilities shall:
(1) require annual education on advance care planning, end-of-life care and POLST forms for administrative and professional medical staff;
(2) provide patients and their families, as appropriate, educational materials on POLST forms, advance directives, and hospice and palliative care; and
(3) implement policies to identify and address end-of-life issues upon patients’ admission to facility.
b. The department may suspend the license of a facility that fails to comply with the provisions of this section.
c. As used in this section:
“Advance directive, department, and POLST form shall have the same meaning as prescribed for those terms in section 3 of P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-131).
"Assisted living facility" means an assisted living residence or comprehensive personal care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
"Dementia care home" means a community residential facility which: (1) provides services to residents with special needs, including, but not limited to, persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of dementia; (2) is subject to the licensure authority of the Department of Health as a health care facility pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.); (3) and meets the requirements of section 19 of P.L.2015, c.125 (C.26:2H-150).
"Hospital" means an acute care hospital licensed by the Department of Health pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.).
"Long-term care facility" means a nursing home, assisted living residence, comprehensive personal care home, residential health care facility, or dementia care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
2. The Department of Health, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of section 1 of this act.
3. This act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires certain medical facilities to undertake end-of-life planning and training as condition of the facility’s licensure.
Under the bill, assisted living facilities, dementia care facilities, hospitals, and long-term care facilities are to: (1) require annual education on advance care planning, end-of-life care and POLST forms for administrative and professional medical staff; (2) provide patients and their families, as appropriate, educational materials on POLST forms, advance directives, and hospice and palliative care; and (3) implement policies to identify and address end-of-life issues upon patients’ admission to facility. The Department of Health may suspend the license of a facility that fails to comply with the bill’s provisions.