SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 49

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 22, 1996

      The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 49 with committee amendments.

      As amended by committee, this bill requires hospital service, medical service and health service corporations, commercial health insurers, dental plan organizations, dental service corporations, insurers who write automobile insurance and workers' compensation insurance and health maintenance organizations (HMO's) to use standard enrollment and claim forms promulgated by the Commissioner of Insurance in connection with all policies and contracts for health care benefits within 12 months of the effective date of this bill.

        In promulgating the forms, the commissioner is required to consult with the Healthcare Information Electronic Data Interchange Policy Council established pursuant to Senate, No.50 or Assembly, No. 1473 of 1996, which includes representatives from among the various types of health care benefit providers who would be required to use the forms. The commissioner is also required to consult with the boards of the New Jersey Individual Health Coverage Program and the New Jersey Small Employer Health Benefits Program and take into consideration the claim forms adopted by those programs. To the greatest extent possible the commissioner shall use national standards for electronic data interchange (EDI) as recommended by the policy council and the program boards.

      This bill is part of a legislative package designed to effectuate the recommendations of the Healthcare Information Networks and Technologies (HINT) report to the Legislature under the joint auspices of Thomas Edison State College and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

      The committee amended the bill to include dental plan organizations, dental service corporations and insurers who write automobile insurance and workers' compensation insurance under the provisions of the bill.