SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 1518
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: NOVEMBER 7, 1996
The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1518 with committee amendments.
As amended by committee, this bill would permit a licensed home health care agency, registered health care service firm or Medicare-certified hospice program, or the agency, firm or program's employees who are registered professional nurses to carry various noncontrolled prescription drugs without a specific patient prescription. These drugs include sterile saline solution, sterile water, adrenalin/epinephrine, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and heparin flush solution, which are often needed by home care nurses for both routine and emergency use. The bill would enable home health care agencies and health care service firms to stock such medications and allow their nurses to carry and use them in situations where a health care professional has prescribed their use.
Several states, including New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas, Michigan, Arkansas, California and New Mexico, have passed similar legislation permitting home health care nurses to carry saline solution and sterile water.
The committee amended the bill to include health care service firms and Medicare-certified hospice programs, as well as home health care agencies, under the provisions of the bill. Health care service firms are registered by the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety. These firms employ individuals, including registered professional nurses, for the purpose of assigning the employed individuals to provide health care services either directly in the home or at a caregiving facility. Medicare-certified hospice programs also employ registered professional nurses who provide care to patients in their homes.
As amended, this bill is identical to Assembly Bill No. 2130 (1R)(SCA) (Wright and Vandervalk), which the committee also reported favorably on this date.