Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires Commissioner of Health to examine certain records of nursing home residents' personal funds, and provides that misappropriation of funds is grounds for cause of action.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning misappropriation of nursing home residents' personal funds and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Commissioner of Health shall access and examine a minimum of 10 percent of the records and quarterly statements maintained by a nursing home pursuant to subsection a. of section 3 of P.L.1976, c.120 (C.30:13-3) each year. In conducting an examination, all due care shall be exercised to preserve the confidentiality of the records and the privacy of the resident. Any evidence of misappropriation of funds shall be grounds for a cause of action pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1976, c.120 (C.30:13-8) against a person found to have committed a misappropriation, the nursing home, or both.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that the Commissioner of Health shall access and examine a minimum of 10 percent of the records and quarterly statements maintained by a nursing home pursuant to subsection a. of section 3 of P.L.1976, c.120 (C.30:13-3) each year. In conducting an examination, the nursing home is to exercise all due care to preserve the confidentiality of the records and the privacy of the resident.
The bill also provides that any evidence of misappropriation of funds will be grounds for a cause of action pursuant to section 8 of P.L.1976, c.120 (C.30:13-8) against a person found to have committed a misappropriation, the nursing home, or both.
This bill is in response to recent media reports alleging that nursing home employees misappropriated personal funds belonging to residents of the nursing home; the reports included at least 28 alleged incidents in New Jersey.