Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires emergency departments to take certain measures concerning palliative care for patients.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning emergency departments and palliative care and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The emergency department of a general hospital licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) shall develop and implement a plan to integrate the provision of palliative care services for patients treated in the emergency department for whom palliative care is appropriate. The plan shall include the adoption of a standardized screening tool for use by health care professionals in the emergency department to facilitate the identification of patients who present to the emergency department for acute symptom management, pain relief, or otherwise, who would benefit from palliative care services. The plan shall also include the provision of patient-centered information concerning the benefits of palliative care, the conditions, diagnoses, and disease stage for which palliative care is generally appropriate, and referrals to providers of outpatient palliative care services, when appropriate. The plan shall include consideration of the unique needs of patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities, or behavioral health issues who present to the emergency department and for whom palliative care may be indicated.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires that emergency departments of general hospitals in the State develop and implement a plan to integrate the provision of palliative care services for patients treated in the emergency department for whom palliative care is appropriate. The plan is to include the adoption of a standardized screening tool for use by health care professionals in the emergency department to facilitate the identification of patients who present to the emergency department who would benefit from palliative care services. The bill requires that an emergency department's plan include consideration of the unique needs of patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities, or behavioral health issues who present to the emergency department and for whom palliative care may be indicated.
Palliative care is medical care that attempts to optimize quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating the effects of chronic serious illness. Palliative care may involve pain and symptom management, as well as addressing other physical, emotional, or social needs of the person, including the need for autonomy. Some individuals with advanced illness or end-stage disease may present to an emergency department for relief from acute pain or for symptom management.
This bill would take effect on the first day of the seventh month following enactment.