SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 3041
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: DECEMBER 7, 2020
The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 3041.
As amended, this bill requires the Department of Health (DOH) to display, at all times, the total number of confirmed deaths resulting from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among employees, volunteers, and other persons providing services at long-term care facilities, as well as among residents of long-term care facilities. The data are to be continuously updated to ensure the reported information reflects the most current information for the period commencing from the date of the first reported case of COVID-19 in New Jersey through the date for which the most recent data are available. The numbers will reflect both Statewide data and facility-specific data, to the extent that facility-specific numbers can be reported without violating State or federal health data privacy rules.
The bill defines "long-term care facility" to mean a nursing home, assisted living residence, comprehensive personal care home, residential health care facility, or dementia care home licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.).
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amendments revise the reporting requirements to clarify that the reported data is to include statistics from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic through the most recent date for which the data are available. The amendments further provide that the data is to be reported by facility, to the extent these numbers can be reported without violating State or federal health privacy rules.
The committee amendments remove separate references to veterans’ homes, as these facilities are currently licensed as nursing homes in New Jersey and so already fall within the definition of “long-term care facility” set forth in the bill.
The committee amendments make various technical changes involving grammar and syntax and to update the synopsis of the bill to reflect the amendments.