ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5248  

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  NOVEMBER 20, 2023

      The Assembly Health Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 5248.

      As amended by the committee, this bill codifies current Department of Health regulations concerning the provision of pharmaceutical services in nursing homes, and establishes an additional requirement to aid in preventing certain conflicts of interest.

      Under the bill, each nursing home is to have a consultant pharmacist and either a provider pharmacist or, if the facility has an in-house pharmacy, a director of pharmaceutical services.  A New Jersey licensed pharmacist is to serve as director of pharmaceutical services or as consultant pharmacist.  The pharmacist is required to comply with federal and State statutes, rules, regulations, and currently accepted standards of practice.

      The bill provides that each nursing home is to have an interdisciplinary pharmacy and therapeutics committee, appointed by and reporting to the administrator of the facility and consisting of at least the administrator, a representative of the nursing staff, and the facility’s consultant pharmacist, with oversight as needed by the facility’s medical director.  The committee may include a licensed pharmacist representing the provider pharmacy.  The committee is to hold meetings at least quarterly.  Records, including the dates of meetings, attendance, activities, findings, and recommendations, are to be maintained by the committee.

      Under the bill, a nursing home is to appoint a consultant pharmacist who is not also the director of pharmaceutical services or pharmacist provider.  The bill establishes an additional requirement for consultant pharmacists to attest that the consultant pharmacist does not have an affiliation with either the facility’s director of pharmaceutical services or the facility’s pharmacist provider.  The bill specifies that, following the appointment of the consultant pharmacist, the consultant pharmacist is to avoid all real or potential conflicts of interest with the facility’s director of pharmaceutical services or the facility’s pharmacist provider.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments:

      1) replace long-term care facilities with nursing homes;

      2) define “nursing home”; and

      3) update the title and synopsis of the bill to reflect these changes.