Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Removes requirements for surgical practices to be licensed as ambulatory care facilities to provide surgical and related services.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning surgical practices and amending P.L.1971, c.136.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 12 of P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-12) is amended to read as follows:
12. a. No health care service or health care facility shall be operated unless it shall: (1) possess a valid license issued pursuant to this act, which license shall specify the kind or kinds of health care services the facility is authorized to provide; (2) establish and maintain a uniform system of cost accounting approved by the commissioner; (3) establish and maintain a uniform system of reports and audits meeting the requirements of the commissioner; (4) prepare and review annually a long range plan for the provision of health care services; and (5) establish and maintain a centralized, coordinated system of discharge planning which assures every patient a planned program of continuing care and which meets the requirements of the commissioner which requirements shall, where feasible, equal or exceed those standards and regulations established by the federal government for all federally-funded health care facilities but shall not require any person who is not in receipt of State or federal assistance to be discharged against his will.
b. (1) Application for a license for a health care service or health care facility shall be made upon forms prescribed by the department. The department shall charge a single, nonrefundable fee for the filing of an application for and issuance of a license and a single, nonrefundable fee for any renewal thereof, and a single, nonrefundable fee for a biennial inspection of the facility, as it shall from time to time fix in rules or regulations; provided, however, that no such licensing fee shall exceed $10,000 in the case of a hospital and $4,000 in the case of any other health care facility for all services provided by the hospital or other health care facility, and no such inspection fee shall exceed $5,000 in the case of a hospital and $2,000 in the case of any other health care facility for all services provided by the hospital or other health care facility. No inspection fee shall be charged for inspections other than biennial inspections. Any surgical practice required to apply for licensure by the department as an ambulatory care facility pursuant to P.L.2017, c.283 shall be exempt from the initial and renewal license fees required by this section. The application shall contain the name of the health care facility, the kind or kinds of health care service to be provided, the location and physical description of the institution, and such other information as the department may require.
(2) A license shall be issued by the department upon its findings that the premises, equipment, personnel, including principals and management, finances, rules and bylaws, and standards of health care service are fit and adequate and there is reasonable assurance the health care facility will be operated in the manner required by this act and rules and regulations thereunder.
(3) The department shall post on its Internet website each inspection report prepared following an inspection of a residential health care facility, as defined in section 1 of P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1) or licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.), that is performed pursuant to this subsection, along with any other inspection report prepared by or on behalf of the department for such facility.
If an inspection reveals a serious health and safety violation at a residential health care facility, the department shall post the inspection report, including the name of the facility and the owner of the facility, on its website no later than 72 hours following the inspection. If a license of a residential health care facility is suspended, the department shall post the suspension on its website no later than 72 hours following the suspension. The department shall update its website to reflect the correction of a serious health and safety violation, and the lifting of a suspension.
The department shall notify, as soon as possible, the Commissioner of Human Services, or the commissioner's designee, and the director of the county board of social services or county welfare agency, as appropriate, in the county in which a residential health care facility is located, of a serious health and safety violation at the facility and of any suspension of a license to operate such facility.
If the inspection responsibilities under this subsection with respect to such facility are transferred or otherwise assigned to another department, that other department shall post on its Internet website each inspection report prepared following an inspection of such facility performed pursuant to this subsection, along with any other inspection report prepared by or on behalf of that department for such facility, and shall comply with the other requirements specified in this subsection.
c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1998, c.43)
d. The commissioner may amend a facility's license to reduce that facility's licensed bed capacity to reflect actual utilization at the facility if the commissioner determines that 10 or more licensed beds in the health care facility have not been used for at least the last two succeeding years. For the purposes of this subsection, the commissioner may retroactively review utilization at a facility for a two-year period beginning on January 1, 1990.
e. If a prospective applicant for licensure for a health care service or facility that is not subject to certificate of need review pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.) so requests, the department shall provide the prospective applicant with a pre-licensure consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to provide the prospective applicant with information and guidance on rules, regulations, standards and procedures appropriate and applicable to the licensure process. The department shall conduct the consultation within 60 days of the request of the prospective applicant.
f. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, an entity that provides magnetic resonance imaging or computerized axial tomography services shall be required to obtain a license from the department to operate those services prior to commencement of services, except that a physician who is operating such services on the effective date of P.L.2004, c.54 shall have one year from the effective date of P.L.2004, c.54 to obtain the license.
g. (1) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2017, c.283)
(2) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2017, c.283)
(3) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2017, c.283)
(4) [A] Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, an entity that operates a surgical practice [in operation on the date of enactment of P.L.2017, c.283 shall be re