SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 4414

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 11, 2026

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 4414.

      This bill requires that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) be responsible for overseeing and implementing policies and procedures to strengthen Statewide pediatric psychiatry and behavioral health care services for children and their families. 

      Specifically, in implementing the policies and procedures prescribed in the bill, the DCF is to:  (1) expand the services provided by the New Jersey Pediatric Psychiatry Collaborative (NJPPC) to better support pediatricians who are members of the NJPPC; (2) analyze and recommend, in consultation with the Departments of Banking and Insurance, Health, and Human Services, adjustments to payment structures and reimbursement rates for pediatric primary care physicians providing pediatric psychiatry and behavioral care health services; (3) increase transparency and accountability within PerformCare or other future contracted system administrators; (4) establish a public awareness campaign to inform and educate the public about the services provided by the Division of Children’s System of Care and how to access such services through PerformCare; and (5) require health care facilities, pediatric primary care physicians, and hospital emergency departments, and pediatric behavioral health care programs to report to the department, standardized data on hospitalization visits and admissions, discharge, and placement information concerning children seeking pediatric psychiatry or behavioral health care services.

      The DCF is to submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report on the materials prepared for the public awareness campaign and the standardized data collected pursuant to the provisions of the bill and to make the materials and the data available to the public on the DCF’s Internet website.

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amendments revise the bill to eliminate the requirement that NJPPC members complete a certain number of continuing medical education credits.  Instead, the bill requires NJPPC to provide medical education via case-based learning collaboratives in partnership with the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

      Additionally, the committee amendments make various technical corrections to the bill.