§1 –

C.26:2H-132.1

 

P.L. 2019, CHAPTER 315, approved January 13, 2020

Senate, No. 3118 (First Reprint)

 

 

An Act establishing an end-of-life care public awareness campaign and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.   The Commissioner of Health shall establish a public awareness campaign to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making in relation to end-of-life care.

     b.    The commissioner, in establishing the public awareness campaign, shall develop outreach efforts and provide information and educational materials to the general public on various end-of-life care topics including, but not limited to:

     (1)   how to effectively conduct advance care planning conversations with family members, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and other individuals involved in a patient’s care, regarding personal goals, preferences, and the type of care desired 1[at the end-of-life] during the final stages of the patient’s life1 ;

     (2)   how community leaders and members can appropriately, and in an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically sensitive way, facilitate community-wide discussions regarding advance care planning and end-of-life care;

     (3)   definitions, procedures, and other information related to advance directives, established pursuant to P.L.1991, c.201 (C.26:2H-53 et seq.);

     (4)   the differences between the two types of advance directives, namely proxy directives and instructive directives;

     (5)   the importance of having an advance directive, or advance directives, and the differences between advance directives and 1[Practitioner] Physician1 Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment 1(POLST)1 forms;

     (6)   definitions, procedures, and other information related to 1[Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment] POLST1 forms, established pursuant to P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-129 et seq.);

     (7)   standardized and approved definitions of, and differences between, palliative care, hospice care, comfort care, and other end-of-life-care terms; and

     (8)   any other topics or matters related to advance care planning and end-of-life care 1[,]1 as the commissioner may deem necessary.

     c.     Information provided under the public awareness campaign shall be disseminated using ethnically, culturally, and linguistically appropriate means, in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity and sensitivity for ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences. Where feasible and appropriate, the information shall be made available in a variety of languages.

     d.    As necessary, the commissioner shall partner with, and expand upon, community-based initiatives and training programs that educate the general public on advance care planning and end-of-life care.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

                                

 

     Establishes public awareness campaign to promote early conversations about advance care planning and end-of-life care.