ASSEMBLY AGING AND SENIOR SERVICES COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 4616

with committee amendments

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 8, 2021

      The Assembly Aging and Senior Services Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4616.

     This bill expands the types of residential long-term care facilities that are required to provide quarterly financial accounting statements to a resident, the resident’s guardian, if any, and, if the resident is a ward of the State, an individual whom the resident identified upon becoming a ward of the State to receive the quarterly statements.  Under this bill, residential long-term care facilities would be required to provide a written account of the resident’s funds, an itemized list of property deposited with the facility for the resident’s use, and all financial transactions with the resident, the resident’s authorized representative, and any guardian appointed for the resident.  Moreover, these quarterly statements would report the amount of property in the resident’s account at the start and end of the accounting period, as well as a listing of all deposits and withdrawals, which transactions would be substantiated with copies of receipts to be provided to the resident, the resident’s next of kin or authorized representative, and any appointed guardian.  Facilities affected by this new requirement are:  nursing homes, assisted living facilities, comprehensive personal care homes, dementia care homes, inpatient psychiatric facilities, and continuing care residential communities.  Under current law, only nursing homes, assisted living facilities and comprehensive personal care homes are required to provide quarterly accounting statements, and only to the resident or the resident’s guardian. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:

      The committee amended the bill: 1) to eliminate the requirement that residential long-term care facilities provide quarterly financial accounting statements to a resident’s next of kin; and 2) to take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following the date of enactment.  As introduced, the bill would have taken effect immediately.