Bill Text: NJ S3118 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes public awareness campaign to promote early conversations about advance care planning and end-of-life care.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)
Status: (Passed) 2020-01-13 - Approved P.L.2019, c.315. [S3118 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S3118-Amended.html
Sponsored by:
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes public awareness campaign to promote early conversations about advance care planning and end-of-life care.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on May 13, 2019, with amendments.
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.
