LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 1950

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

 

DATED: MAY 21, 2026

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis:

"Stop Sepsis Act"; requires hospitals to establish sepsis recognition and treatment protocols, train staff, and establish quality measures.

Type of Impact:

Annual State and county expenditure increases. Potential State revenue increase.

Agencies Affected:

Department of Health; Department of Human Services; Division of Pensions and Benefits in the Department of the Treasury; University Hospital; and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

 

 

Office of Legislative Services Estimate

Fiscal Impact

Annual

 

State Expenditure Increase

Indeterminate

 

Potential State Revenue Increase

Indeterminate

 

Expenditure Increase for University Hospital and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center

Indeterminate

 

 

·         The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concludes that the Department of Health; University Hospital, an independent non-profit legal entity that is an instrumentality of the State located in Newark; and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, a county-owned entity in Paramus, would incur an indeterminate amount of annual costs under the bill.

 

·         The OLS assumes that, for the department, expenditures would likely be due to the public reporting of hospital sepsis-related quality measures, while for the hospitals, expenditures would likely be due to sepsis-related data collection, reporting, and quality improvements.

 

·         The OLS notes that several provisions of this bill codify or overlap with existing regulations and policy.  To the extent that these existing initiatives meet the bill’s provisions or can be used to support the bill’s provisions, costs incurred by the department, University Hospital, and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center would be minimized.

 

·         The State Medicaid Program, the State Health Benefits Program, and the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program may experience an increase in service costs resulting from the bill’s provisions.  Any State Medicaid expenditures increased under the bill would also increase State revenues in the form of federal Medicaid reimbursements.

 

 

BILL DESCRIPTION

 

      This bill, which is designated as the Stop Sepsis Act, requires hospitals to establish protocols for the early recognition and treatment of patients with sepsis.  Hospitals will be required to: 1) ensure that appropriate staff members are periodically trained to implement the sepsis protocols; and 2) collect and use quality measures related to the recognition and treatment of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock for the purpose of internal quality improvement and evaluating the implementation and adherence to the protocols.

      The Department of Health is required to compile information necessary to develop a hospital report card on risk-adjusted sepsis-related quality measures, update the information annually, and post the information on the department’s website.

      The bill provides that for the purposes of the early identification and treatment of sepsis, a Medicaid third-party payor, managed care organization, or health benefits plan and any health benefits plan, as defined pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2003, c.193, is prohibited from substituting its own clinical judgment for that of the treating licensed health care provider with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of suspected sepsis, sepsis, severe sepsis, or septic shock.

      The bill revises certain hospital infection control data reporting requirements for hospitals under current law to specify that the reported data are to be risk adjusted and that any infection rate data be reported and publicly displayed in a transparent and clinically valid format that accounts for relevant patient, facility, and case mix factors.  The bill also stipulates that the submission of the required reports are to be through the National Healthcare Safety Network.

 

 

FISCAL ANALYSIS

 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

 

      None received.

 

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES

 

      The OLS concludes that the Department of Health; University Hospital, an independent non-profit legal entity that is an instrumentality of the State located in Newark; and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (formerly the Bergen Regional Medical Center), a county-owned entity in Paramus, would incur an indeterminate amount of annual costs under the bill.  The OLS notes that several provisions of this bill codify or overlap with existing regulations and policy.  To the extent that these existing initiatives meet the bill’s provisions or can be used to support the bill’s provisions, costs incurred by the department, University Hospital, and Bergen New Bridge Medical Center would be minimized.  The OLS assumes that, for the department, expenditures would likely be due to the public reporting of hospital sepsis-related quality measures, while for the hospitals, expenditures would likely be due to sepsis-related data collection, reporting, and quality improvements.

      Currently, pursuant to the New Jersey Administrative Code, hospitals are required to establish sepsis protocols and to train staff on the implementation of those protocols.  Additionally, under existing law, hospitals are required to submit their healthcare-associated infections data to the Department of Health.  The department, in turn, is required to review and analyze this data, and report the results in New Jersey's annual Hospital Performance Report.  Currently, the department has partnered with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect this data via the federal agency’s National Healthcare Safety Network, which applies a risk-adjusted methodology.    

      Additionally, the State Medicaid Program, the State Health Benefits Program, and the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program may experience an increase in service costs under the bill, to the extent that the bill’s provisions prohibiting certain health plans from using their own clinical review regarding sepsis-related treatment and diagnosis results in an increase in the utilization of sepsis-related services under those programs.  Any State Medicaid expenditures increased under the bill would also increase State revenues in the form of federal Medicaid reimbursements.

 

 

Section:

Human Services

Analyst:

Sarah M. Schmidt

Principal Research Analyst

Approved:

Thomas Koenig

Legislative Budget and Finance Officer

 

 

This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).