S3118

An Act establishing an end-of-life care public awareness campaign 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. The Commissioner of Health shall establish a public awareness campaign to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making in relation to end-of-life care.

b. The commissioner, in establishing the public awareness campaign, shall develop outreach efforts and provide information and educational materials to the general public on various end-of-life care topics including, but not limited to:

(1) how to effectively conduct advance care planning conversations with family members, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and other individuals involved in a patient’s care, regarding personal goals, preferences, and the type of care desired at the end-of-life;

(2) how community leaders and members can appropriately, and in an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically sensitive way, facilitate community-wide discussions regarding advance care planning and end-of-life care;

(3) definitions, procedures, and other information related to advance directives, established pursuant to P.L.1991, c.201 (C.26:2H-53 et seq.);

(4) the differences between the two types of advance directives, namely proxy directives and instructive directives;

(5) the importance of having an advance directive, or advance directives, and the differences between advance directives and Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment forms;

(6) definitions, procedures, and other information related to Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment forms, established pursuant to P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-129 et seq.);

(7) standardized and approved definitions of, and differences between, palliative care, hospice care, comfort care, and other end-of-life-care terms; and

(8) any other topics or matters related to advance care planning and end-of-life care, as the commissioner may deem necessary.

c. Information provided under the public awareness campaign shall be disseminated using ethnically, culturally, and linguistically appropriate means, in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity and sensitivity for ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences. Where feasible and appropriate, the information shall be made available in a variety of languages.

d. As necessary, the commissioner shall partner with, and expand upon, community-based initiatives and training programs that educate the general public on advance care planning and end-of-life care.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would require the Commissioner of Health to establish a public awareness campaign designed to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making about end-of-life care. Encouraging early conversations about these topics will increase awareness of advance care planning resources and will help ensure better alignment between a patient’s wishes and the care they receive at the end-of-life.

Research shows that people are generally unaware of what opportunities and resources are available to plan in advance for end-of-life care and to ensure that patient preferences and wishes are fulfilled. The public awareness campaign established in this bill would disseminate information about helpful resources, including advance directives and Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms. These documents generally specify patient preferences and orders regarding: the use of life-sustaining treatments and resuscitation attempts; general care and treatment preferences; beliefs and values relating to the end-of-life; and the appointment of a surrogate decision maker in the case that a patient is unable to make certain healthcare decisions, also known as a durable power of attorney for healthcare. Recording various healthcare preferences in documents like advance directives and POLST forms will help make clear to healthcare providers what should be done when treating a patient at the end-of-life.

The public awareness campaign would seek to educate the general public on how to effectively have early advance care planning conversations with family members, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and other individuals involved in one’s care, regarding personal end-of-life care and treatment preferences. The public awareness campaign would also aim to educate community leaders and members so they can appropriately facilitate community-wide discussions regarding advance care planning and end-of-life care.

The public awareness campaign in of itself would disseminate information in an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically sensitive way, recognizing New Jersey’s diverse population and that race and ethnicity are often associated with different end-of-life care preferences. Lastly, the commissioner may partner with, and expand upon, existing community-based initiatives that educate the public on advance care planning and end-of-life care.