SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1965

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 14, 2024

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1965.

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

      Under the bill and current regulations, each long-term care facility 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 and current regulations provide that each long-term care facility 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 and current regulations, the long-term care facility 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.

      This bill was prefiled for introduction in the 2024-2025 session pending technical review.  As reported, the bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments revise the bill’s definition of “long-term care facility” to mean “a facility or distinct part of a facility licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health as a long-term care facility.”