Bill Text: NJ S1170 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides support for obstetric services by certain health care facilities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-23 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S1170 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1170-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Provides support for obstetric services by certain health care facilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the provision of obstetric services by health care facilities, supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes and amending P.L.2008, c.33.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. The Commissioner of Health and Senior Services shall prescribe by regulation required procedures for a licensed health care facility to follow if it is at risk of closing or reducing its obstetric services due to the financial distress of the facility.
b. The facility shall submit a strategic plan to the commissioner no later than the date that it files its application for a certificate of need for the proposed closure or reduction of services, which shall, at a minimum:
(1) provide for access to patients' prenatal records, in compliance with the requirements of State and federal law, including the availability of a centralized regional location for accessing all such records at any time;
(2) identify all locations where high-risk services, prenatal care, intrapartum care, and postpartum care will be provided and identify transportation options to these locations; and
(3) include a plan for communicating information to the community, in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner, about the proposed closure or reduction of services and options for patients to access services after the closure or reduction of services by the facility.
c. The facility shall establish and convene a strategic planning review committee to prepare for implementation of the strategic plan and consider issues concerning the affected community, which shall include representation from the Department of Health and Senior Services as specified by the commissioner, the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services in the Department of Human Services, the affected regional maternal and child health consortium, and community stakeholders.
d. Each facility that is directly affected by the closure or reduction of services of a facility as described in this section shall submit quarterly reports to the commissioner for a period of at least two years after the date that implementation of the strategic plan commences, in regard to the progress made by the facility in implementing the plan.
2. Section 3 of P.L.2008, c.33 (C.26:2H-18.76) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. The Health Care Stabilization Fund is established as a nonlapsing, revolving fund in the Department of Health and Senior Services. The fund shall be administered by the Department of Health and Senior Services in consultation with the Department of the Treasury. The fund shall be comprised of such revenues as are appropriated by the Legislature from time to time, along with any interest earned on monies in the fund.
b. Monies from the fund shall be disbursed solely as grants to qualifying licensed health care facilities pursuant to eligibility criteria, and subject to conditions, prescribed by the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services in accordance with the requirements of this act.
c. The commissioner shall determine a percentage of monies from the fund to be dedicated to support the provision of obstetric services by financially distressed health care facilities when access to those services may be adversely impacted by the financial condition of the facility, or to enable health care facilities to provide services to additional obstetric patients as a result of the closure of, or reduction of services at, another facility in their region.
(cf: P.L.2008, c.33, s.3)
3. Section 4 of P.L.2008, c.33 (C.26:2H-18.77) is amended to read as follows:
4. The Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, in consultation with the State Treasurer and the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, may award a grant to a hospital or other licensed health care facility from the fund if the commissioner determines that, due to extraordinary circumstances, the grant is necessary to maintain access to essential health care services or referral sources, as appropriate. In determining whether to award a grant to a licensed health care facility, the commissioner shall consider whether, at a minimum, the following factors are present:
a. Extraordinary circumstances threaten access to essential health services for residents in a community;
b. Persons in a community will be without ready access to essential health care services in the absence of the award of a grant from the fund;
c. Funding is unavailable from other sources to preserve or provide essential health care services;
d. A grant from the fund is likely to stabilize access to the essential health care services;
e. There is a reasonable likelihood that the essential health care services will be sustainable upon the termination of the grant;
f. The proposed recipient of the grant agrees to conditions established by the commissioner for receipt of a grant; [and]
g. The hospital or other licensed health care facility serves a significant number of uninsured and underinsured persons; and
h. A grant from the fund is needed to support the provision of obstetric services at the hospital or other health care facility when access to those services may be adversely impacted by the financial condition of the facility, or to enable the hospital or other licensed health care facility to provide services to additional obstetric patients as a result of the closure of, or reduction of services at, another facility in its region.
(cf: P.L.2008, c.33, s.4)
4. 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 such rules and regulations as are necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.
5. This act shall take effect on the 180th day after the date of enactment, but the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.
STATEMENT
This bill is intended to ensure the continued availability of obstetric services at health care facilities throughout New Jersey and is based upon the recommendations of the report by the Prenatal Care Task Force to the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services in July 2008.
The bill provides that the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services is to prescribe by regulation required procedures for a licensed health care facility to follow if it is at risk of closing or reducing its obstetric services due to the financial distress of the facility.
The facility is to submit a strategic plan to the commissioner no later than the date that it files its application for a certificate of need for the proposed closure or reduction of services, which must, at a minimum: (1) provide for access to patients' prenatal records, in compliance with the requirements of State and federal law, including the availability of a centralized regional location for accessing all such records at any time; (2) identify all locations where high-risk services, prenatal care, intrapartum care, and postpartum care will be provided and identify transportation options to these locations; and (3) include a plan for communicating information to the community, in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner, about the proposed closure or reduction of services and options for patients to access services after the closure or reduction of services by the facility.
The facility is to establish and convene a strategic planning review committee to prepare for implementation of the strategic plan and consider issues concerning the affected community, which is to include representation from the Department of Health and Senior Services as specified by the commissioner, the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services in the Department of Human Services, the affected regional maternal and child health consortium, and community stakeholders.
Each facility that is directly affected by the closure or reduction of services of a facility is to submit quarterly reports to the commissioner for a period of at least two years after the date that implementation of the strategic plan commences, in regard to the progress made by the facility in implementing the plan.
The commissioner is to determine a percentage of monies from the Health Care Stabilization Fund to be dedicated to support the provision of obstetric services by financially distressed health care facilities when access to those services may be adversely impacted by the financial condition of the facility, or to enable health care facilities to provide services to additional obstetric patients as a result of the closure of, or reduction of services at, another facility in their region.
In determining whether to award a grant from the fund to a licensed health care facility, the commissioner is to consider, among the other factors specified in current law, whether a grant from the fund is needed to support the provision of obstetric services at the facility when access to those services may be adversely impacted by the financial condition of the facility, or to enable the facility to provide services to additional obstetric patients as a result of the closure of, or reduction of services at, another facility in its region.
The bill takes effect on the 180th day after the date of enactment, but authorizes the commissioner to take anticipatory administrative action in advance as necessary for its implementation.
