CHAPTER 5

 

An Act concerning data reporting related to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

      1.   a.  (1)  The Commissioner of Health shall require general acute care hospitals, special hospitals, ambulatory care facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, and nursing homes licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), as well as hospice programs licensed pursuant to P.L.1997, c.78 (C.26:2H-79 et seq.), to report to the Department of Health, either directly or through a non-profit trade association, on a bi-monthly basis, de-identified data on the number of health care professionals, ancillary health care workers, and emergency medical services personnel employed by the facility who tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 and who died from the coronavirus disease 2019.

      (2)  The information required pursuant to this subsection shall be filed in a form and manner as shall be required by the department.  To ensure the integrity and accuracy of the information reported pursuant to this subsection, the department shall seek to identify and minimize duplicative reporting from multiple facilities concerning the same individual in the event that the individual is employed by, or affiliated with, more than one facility that is subject to the reporting requirements set forth in this section. 

      b.   The department shall issue a report concerning the occupational data received pursuant to subsection a. of this section by publishing the latest data received by the department pursuant to subsection a. of this section no later than 12 months after the end of both the state of emergency and public health emergency declared in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

     c.     Nothing in this section shall be construed to require disclosure of any private health information or personal identifying information in violation of any State or federal law, including the federal "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996," Pub.L.104-191 and any regulations promulgated thereunder by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

      2.   This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire one month after issuance of the report required pursuant to subsection b. of section 1 of this act.

 

      Approved February 4, 2021.