Bill Text: NJ A4678 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires hospitals to inquire whether patients have substance use disorder and establish protocols for providing or referring to treatment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-28 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Health Committee [A4678 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4678-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Requires hospitals to inquire whether patients have substance use disorder and establish protocols for providing or referring to treatment.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning hospital patients with substance use disorder 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. A general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) shall, when providing a health care service to an individual who is 18 years of age or older, inquire as to whether the individual has a substance use disorder or is in recovery from a substance use disorder.
b. Each general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) shall, within 180 days of the effective date of this act, establish an official facility-wide protocol or unit-specific protocols for providing treatment or referral to treatment for patients who indicate that they have a substance use disorder or are in recovery from a substance use disorder. Such protocols shall, at minimum, be available to the public upon request.
2. The Commissioner of Health shall, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt any rules and regulations as the commissioner deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment, except that the Commissioner of Health may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill would require acute care hospitals to inquire whether a patient who is 18 years of age or older has a substance use disorder or is in recovery from a substance use disorder. The bill also requires each hospital to establish appropriate protocols for providing treatment or referral to treatment for patients who indicate that they have a substance use disorder or are in recovery from a substance use disorder. Such protocols would be available to the public upon request.
