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A1774
ASSEMBLY, No. 1774
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ANTHONY S. VERRELLI
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
���� Prohibits certain forms of discrimination in DOH
policies concerning allocation of critical health care resources.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning the allocation of critical health
care resources 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.� Notwithstanding any
other provision of law to the contrary, any critical health care resource
allocation policy developed by the Department of Health shall:
���� (1)��
comply
with all applicable federal civil rights laws, including, but not limited to,
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. s.794, Title II of the
"Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990," 42 U.S.C. s.12101 et seq.,
section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
Pub.L.111-148, as amended by the federal "Health Care
and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010," Pub.L.111-152, and the Age
Discrimination Act of 1975,
42 U.S.C. ss.6101 et seq.; and
���� (2)�� be prohibited from:
���� (a)�� establishing any
exclusions from eligibility to receive health care resources, or reducing the
priority for eligibility to receive health care resources, based on whether an
individual has a disability or based on whether the individual will, or is
expected to, require additional resources, more intensive use of resources, or
the use of resources for an extended duration, as a result of the individual�s
disability;
���� (b)�� factoring long-term
survivability into treatment decisions; or
���� (c)�� allowing reallocation of
personal ventilators from an individual who ordinarily uses a ventilator in the
course of daily living to another individual who is deemed by a treating
practitioner to be more likely to benefit from the use of the ventilator.
���� b.��� Any critical health care
resource allocation policy developed by the department shall require that
general acute care hospitals licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et
seq.) make reasonable modifications to the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment
score to ensure individuals with an underlying health condition do not receive
a lower score when the underlying health condition is unrelated to hospital
survival or unrelated to the efficacy of the health care resource under
consideration.
���� c.���� Any critical health
care resource allocation policy developed by the department shall prohibit
general acute care hospitals and nursing homes licensed pursuant to P.L.1971,
c.136
(C.26:2H-1 et seq.) from issuing do not resuscitate orders that
apply to all patients or residents of the facility.� Any do not resuscitate
policy developed by a hospital or nursing home shall account for the treatment
preferences of the patient or resident, to the extent they may be determined
through an advance directive, POLST form, or other appropriate means.
���� d.��� As used in this section:
���� �Advance directive� means an
advance directive for health care as defined in section 3 of P.L.1991, c.201
(C.26:2H-55).
���� �Critical health care resource
allocation policy� means any policy related to the policies, procedures,
protocols, standards, or other requirements concerning the allocation of health
care resources for which demand exceeds or is anticipated to exceed supply.
���� "Do not resuscitate
order" means a physician's written order not to attempt cardiopulmonary
resuscitation in the event the patient suffers a cardiac or respiratory arrest.
���� �Health care resource� means
any component related to the treatment of an individual for a medical or
behavioral health issue, including, but not limited to, inpatient beds,
treatment spaces, medications and vaccines, medical and surgical equipment,
auxiliary equipment and supplies, medical devices, and health care personnel.
���� �POLST form� means a
Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment form executed in accordance
with the requirements of P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-129 et al.).
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill prohibits the
inclusion or implementation of certain discriminatory policies in critical
health care resource allocation policies, which are defined in the bill to mean
any policy related to the policies, procedures, protocols, standards, or other
requirements concerning the allocation of health care resources for which
demand exceeds or is anticipated to exceed supply.
���� Specifically, the bill
requires that any critical health care resource allocation policy developed by
the Department of Health (DOH)
comply with all
applicable federal civil rights laws, including, but not limited to, section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. s.794), Title II of the "Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990" (42 U.S.C. s.12101 et seq.), Section 1557
of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
Pub.L.111-148, as amended by the federal "Health Care
and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010," Pub.L.111-152, and the Age
Discrimination Act of 1975 (
42 U.S.C. ss.6101 et seq.).
���� Additionally, any DOH critical
health care resource allocation policy will be prohibited from:� (1)
establishing exclusions or deprioritizations related to eligibility to receive
health care resources based on whether an individual has a disability or the
individual will, or is expected to, require additional resources, more
intensive use of resources, or the use of resources for an extended duration,
as a result of the individual�s disability; (2) factoring long-term
survivability into treatment decisions; or (3) allowing reallocation of
personal ventilators from an individual who ordinarily uses a ventilator in the
course of daily living to another individual who is deemed by a treating
practitioner to be more likely to benefit from the use of the ventilator.
���� The bill requires that any
critical health care resource allocation policy developed by the DOH require
general acute care hospitals to make reasonable modifications to Sequential
Organ Failure Assessment score to ensure individuals with an underlying health
condition do not receive a lower score when the underlying health condition is
unrelated to hospital survival or unrelated to the efficacy of the health care
resource under consideration.
���� The bill requires any critical
health care resource allocation policy developed by the DOH to prohibit
hospitals and nursing homes from issuing do not resuscitate orders that apply
to all patients or residents of the facility.� Any do not resuscitate policy
developed by a hospital or nursing home will be required to account for the
treatment preferences of the patient or resident, to the extent they may be
determined through an advance directive, a practitioner orders for
life-sustaining treatment (POLST) form, or other appropriate means.