A6188

An Act concerning voluntary use of electronic monitoring devices in hospitals 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 hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) shall be required to install and operate an electronic monitoring device in the room of an incapacitated patient in accordance with the provisions of this act if requested to do so by the patient or the patient’s legal representative. A hospital shall inform an incapacitated patient and the patient's legal representative during the patient’s admission to the hospital of the right to request the installation and operation of an electronic monitoring device.

b. A hospital may require a patient or patient's legal representative who requests the installation of an electronic monitoring device to make the request in writing to the facility.

c. A hospital shall not refuse to admit an individual to the facility, or remove a patient from the facility, because of a request to install an electronic monitoring device.

d. A hospital shall be responsible for all costs associated with the installation of a requested electronic monitoring device, including the purchase of the device and the operation of the device for the entirety of the patient’s admission.

e. A hospital shall be required to store all video footage recorded by a requested electronic monitoring device, such that the hospital is able to provide a patient or the patient’s legal representative with access to the video footage recorded in the patient’s room up until the 60th day following the patient’s discharge from the hospital.

f. The installation and operation of an electronic monitoring device shall:

(1) be noncompulsory and at the election of the patient or the patient's legal representative;

(2) be conducted within plain view; and

(3) protect the privacy rights of other patients and visitors to the hospital, to the extent reasonably possible; and in the case of a patient who shares a room with another patient, be subject to the written consent of the other patient or that patient’s legal representative to install and operate the electronic monitoring device in the room.

g. A hospital may post a notice on the door of an applicable patient's room that states an electronic monitoring device is operating in the room.

h. This act shall be implemented in accordance with all State and federal health information privacy laws and regulations.

i. As used in this act:

"Electronic monitoring device" means a video surveillance camera, video telephone, or Internet video surveillance device.

"Incapacitated" means a patient who is unconscious, who is immobile, or who lacks sufficient capacity to verbally communicate with hospital staff.

2. A person who willfully, and without the consent of a patient or the patient's legal representative, hampers, obstructs, tampers with, or destroys an electronic monitoring device or video footage recorded by an electronic monitoring device associated with a request made under this act shall be guilty of a crime of the third degree.

3. The Commissioner of Health shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to carry out the purposes of this act.

4. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill requires a hospital licensed in the State to install and operate an electronic monitoring device in the room of an incapacitated patient if requested to do so by the patient or the patient’s legal representative. Under the bill, "incapacitated" means a patient who is unconscious, who is immobile, or who lacks sufficient capacity to verbally communicate with hospital staff. "Electronic monitoring device" means a video surveillance camera, video telephone, or Internet video surveillance device.

The bill requires a hospital to:

1) inform an incapacitated patient and the patient's legal representative during the patient’s admission of the patient's right to request an electronic monitoring device;

2) cover all costs associated with the electronic monitoring device; and

3) store all video footage recorded by a requested electronic monitoring device, such that the hospital is able to provide a patient or the patient’s legal representative with access to the video footage up until the 60th day following the patient’s discharge from the hospital.

The hospital may require a request for the installation of an electronic monitoring device to be made in writing. The hospital is prohibited from refusing to admit an individual to the facility, or removing a patient from the facility, because of a request for an electronic monitoring device.

Under the bill, the installation and operation of an electronic monitoring device must be conducted within plain view; and protect the privacy rights of other patients and visitors, to the extent reasonably possible. In the case of a patient who shares a room with another patient, the use of an electronic monitoring device is subject to the written consent of the other patient or that patient’s legal representative. Additionally, a hospital may post a notice stating that a room is being monitored by an electronic monitoring device. The provisions of the bill are to be implemented in accordance with all State and federal health information privacy laws and regulations.

Finally, the bill provides that a person who willfully, and without the consent of a patient or the patient’s legal representative, hampers, obstructs, tampers with, or destroys an electronic monitoring device or the accompanying video footage is guilty of a crime of the third degree (punishable by a term of imprisonment between three to five years, a fine not exceeding $15,000, or both).