Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires hospitals to maintain minimum services when relocating from underserved community.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning hospital services in underserved communities and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
b. The professional departments, inpatient beds, services, facilities, and functions required to be maintained at the original location, pursuant to subsection a. of this section, shall be provided under the same license as the relocated hospital.
c. As used in this act:
“Hospital” shall mean a general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
“Underserved community” means a municipality with a population greater than 30,000 residents in calendar year 2024, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and which: (1) is within a Medically Underserved Area or includes a Medically Underserved Population, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration in the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 2025; (2) has an Index of Medical Underservice Score, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration, that is less than, or equal to, 62.0 in 2025; and (3) has been identified as a medically underserved municipality by the Commissioner of Health based on the New Jersey Medically Underserved Index.
2. The Commissioner of Health shall, in accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). adopt rules and regulations as necessary to implement this act.
3. This act shall take effect immediately,
and shall apply retroactively to any hospital
relocations approved by the Department of Health in the 12 months prior to the
effective date that also meet the provisions of section 1 of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that a general acute care hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), for which the Department of Health (the department) has approved a certificate of need application to relocate from its location in an underserved community, is required to maintain at its original location the minimum professional departments, inpatient beds, services, facilities, and functions that a hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) is required to provide pursuant to N.J.A.C.8:33-3.1. The bill further provides that the departments, inpatient beds, services, facilities and functions to be maintained at the hospital’s original location in an underserved community will be provided under the same license as the relocated hospital.
The provisions of the bill will take effect immediately, and will apply retroactively to any hospital relocations, approved by the department in the 12 months prior to the effective date, that also meet the bill’s requirements.