ASSEMBLY, No. 5527

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED JUNE 6, 2019

 


 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  HERB CONAWAY, JR.

District 7 (Burlington)

Assemblyman  P. CHRISTOPHER TULLY

District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)

Assemblywoman  LISA SWAIN

District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywomen Vainieri Huttle, Murphy and Schepisi

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Requires certain long-term care facilities to submit outbreak response plan to DOH.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

 


An Act concerning certain long-term care facilities 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.   As used in this section:

     "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.).

      b.   Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Department of Health shall require long-term care facilities, which provide care to ventilator dependent residents, to develop and submit to the department an outbreak response plan within 180 days after the effective date of this act, with any material changes to the plan submitted annually unless otherwise required by the department, customized to the facility that is based upon national standards and developed in consultation with the facility’s infection control committee, which plan shall include, but shall not be limited to: 

     (1)   a protocol for isolating and cohorting infected and at-risk patients in the event of an outbreak of a life-threatening, contagious disease, or of a similar health emergency at a facility, until the cessation of the outbreak or emergency;

     (2)   clear policies for the notification of patients, patients’ families, and staff in the event of an outbreak of a life-threatening, contagious disease, or of a similar health emergency at a facility;

     (3)   information on the availability of laboratory testing, protocols for assessing whether facility visitors are ill, protocols to require ill staff to not present at the facility for work duties, and processes for implementing evidence-based outbreak response measures;

     (4)   policies to meet staffing, training, and facility demands during an infectious disease outbreak to successfully implement the outbreak response plan;

     (5)   policies to conduct routine surveillance on residents and staff to quickly identify signs of a communicable disease that could develop into an outbreak;

     (6)   policies for reporting outbreaks to public health officials in accordance with applicable laws and regulations; and

     (7)   employing or contracting with an individual certified by the Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc., in infection prevention and control, and a physician who has completed an infectious disease fellowship, to successfully implement the outbreak response plan.

     c.     The Department of Health shall develop and implement procedures as are necessary for the submission of the long-term care facility outbreak response plans required pursuant to subsection b. of this section.

     d.    Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Department of Health shall, no later than 180 days after the submission of the outbreak response plan pursuant to subsection b. of this section, issue a certificate of need to a long-term care facility which the department determines is in need of a physical expansion of its facilities to permit the long-term care facility to execute the outbreak response plan submitted pursuant to subsection b. of this section.

     e.     Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, following the Department of Health’s initial issuance of certificates of need pursuant to subsection d. of this section, the department shall triennially assess the State’s need for additional space in long-term care facilities and issue certificates of need to facilities in need of physical expansion to permit long-term care facilities to execute an outbreak response plan submitted pursuant to subsection b. of this section.

 

     2.    The Department of Health shall implement the provisions of this act, and pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules or regulations as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.

 

     3.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill provides that the Department of Health (DOH) is to require certain long-term care facilities to submit outbreak response plans.

     Under the bill, the DOH is to require long-term care facilities, which provide care to ventilator dependent residents, to develop and submit to the DOH an outbreak response plan within 180 days after the effective date of this act that is developed in consultation with the facility’s infection control committee, which plan is to include, but is not to be limited to: (1) a protocol for isolating and cohorting infected and at-risk patients in the event of an outbreak of a life-threatening, contagious disease, or of a similar health emergency at a facility, until the cessation of the outbreak or emergency; (2) clear policies for the notification of patients, patients’ families, and staff in the event of an outbreak of a life-threatening, contagious disease, or of a similar health emergency at a facility; (3) information on the availability of laboratory testing, protocols for assessing whether facility visitors are ill, protocols to require ill staff to not present at the facility for work duties, and processes for implementing evidence-based outbreak response measures; (4) policies to meet staffing, training, and facility demands during an infectious disease outbreak to successfully implement the outbreak response plan; (5) policies to conduct routine surveillance on residents and staff to quickly identify signs of a communicable disease that could develop into an outbreak; (6) policies for reporting outbreaks to public health officials in accordance with applicable laws and regulations; and (7) employing or contracting with an individual certified by the Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc., in infection prevention and control, and a physician who has completed an infectious disease fellowship, to successfully implement the outbreak response plan.

     The DOH is to issue a certificate of need to a long-term care facility which the department determines is in need of a physical expansion of its facilities to permit the long-term care facility to execute the outbreak response plan submitted pursuant to the bill’s provisions.

     The bill provides that the DOH is to develop and implement procedures as are necessary for the submission of the outbreak response plans required under the bill.