SENATE, No. 1644

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED OCTOBER 24, 1996

By Senator LaROSSA

An Act concerning adult cardiac surgery services in Mercer County 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. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 7 of P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-7) to the contrary and no later than 30 days after the effective date of this act, the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services shall issue a license to provide adult cardiac surgery services to an acute care hospital in a city of the second class in Mercer County which is currently a provider of cardiac catheterization services and provides a significant portion of those services to minority patients and to Medicaid or indigent self-pay patients, as determined by the commissioner.

    b. The hospital shall provide adult cardiac surgery services in accordance with requirements established by regulation of the commissioner, including, but not limited to, minimum annual service level requirements for minority patients and Medicaid or indigent self-pay patients and a minimum annual volume of open heart surgery procedures. The commissioner may revoke the hospital's adult cardiac surgery license for failure to meet those requirements.

    c. The hospital shall not charge an indigent person for inpatient or outpatient services associated with the performance of invasive cardiac catheterization or adult cardiac surgery, including, but not limited to, physician fees and drug therapies.

    2. The Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act.

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill provides for the licensure of an acute care hospital in the city of Trenton in Mercer County, which is currently providing invasive cardiac catheterization services, to provide adult cardiac surgery services.

    This bill is intended to address the problems caused by the lack of available cardiac surgery services in Trenton and the rest of Mercer County, particularly for the poor and minority residents of the State capital. There is no acute care hospital in Trenton or Mercer County currently licensed to provide adult cardiac surgery services, even though all other New Jersey cities with comparable populations provide these services. In addition, the lack of available cardiac surgical services in Trenton and Mercer County has caused many patients to receive cardiac surgical care at out-of-State facilities, with the attendant economic loss to New Jersey.

Provides for licensure of adult cardiac surgery program in Mercer County.