Sponsored by:
Senator GERALD CARDINALE
District 39 (Bergen)
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires drug test specimens from drug abuse treatment clinics be analyzed by independent clinical laboratory.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning drug testing by drug abuse treatment clinics and amending P.L.1971, c.128.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-34) is amended to read as follows:
4. a. The clinics, regional centers, and outreach offices established [hereunder] pursuant to P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-31 et seq.) shall provide a complete program of medical and community services in connection with all aspects of the use and abuse of drugs and related problems, including, but not by way of limitation, the following:
(1) educational programs;
(2) confidential drug counseling;
(3) vocational guidance and job placement;
(4) psychiatric, psychological, and social case work services;
(5) induction and outreach services;
(6) 24-hour telephone emergency capability;
(7) urine monitoring, in accordance with the provisions of subsection b. of this section;
(8) detoxification;
(9) methadone maintenance;
(10) individual and community prevention program;
(11) individual self-help and group therapy;
(12) referral services for in-patient treatment;
(13) all areas of treatment and addict rehabilitation;
(14) aftercare treatment; and
(15) probation services for the courts and correctional systems.
b. A clinic, regional center, or outreach office operating pursuant to P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-31 et seq.) shall arrange to have all specimens from required drug tests of its patients analyzed by a clinical laboratory that is licensed pursuant to P.L.1975, c.166 (C.45:9-42.26 et seq.) and is not affiliated with the clinic, regional center, or outreach office, in accordance with regulations to be adopted by the commissioner pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-36).
(cf: P.L.1971, c.128, s.4)
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month after the date of enactment, but the commissioner may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that drug test specimens from drug abuse treatment clinics be analyzed by independent clinical laboratories.
Specifically, the bill directs a drug abuse treatment clinic operating pursuant to P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-31 et seq.) to have all specimens from required drug tests of its patients analyzed by a clinical laboratory that is licensed by the Department of Health and Senior Services pursuant to P.L.1975, c.166 (C.45:9-42.26 et seq.) and is not affiliated with the drug abuse treatment clinic, in accordance with regulations to be adopted by the Commissioner of Human Services pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1971, c.128 (C.26:2G-36).
The intent of this bill is to ensure impartial, independent test results for required drug testing specimens from patients in methadone and other drug treatment programs for opiate addiction. The bill will restore the original purpose of drug testing in drug abuse treatment clinics, i.e., to provide an objective measure of treatment efficiency and to monitor patient compliance, and will deter the kind of overcharges for drug testing by treatment programs that were identified by the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General in 2009 in connection with seven opiate treatment clinics that fraudulently billed the Medicaid program for some $3.5 million.
The bill takes effect on the first day of the seventh month after the date of enactment.