New Jersey-2018-S3312-Introduced

An Act concerning trauma centers and violence prevention in New Jersey and supplementing Chapter 2KK of Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. (1) A hospital in the State, which provides services in a municipality that has a disproportionately high rate of firearm violence or homicide, shall not be designated as a Level One or Level Two trauma center, under the provisions of P.L.2013, c.233 (C.26:2KK-1 et seq.) and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto, unless the hospital operates or contracts with a hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program that provides appropriate counseling, case management, and social services to patients who have been injured as a result of violence.

(2) Any hospital in the State that provides services in a municipality that has a disproportionately high rate of firearm violence or homicide, and that was designated as a Level One or Level Two trauma center prior to the effective date of this section, shall be required to establish or contract with a hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program within one year after the effective date of this act, or shall have its designation revoked.

(3) For the purposes of enforcing the provisions of this subsection, the commissioner shall establish criteria to be used in identifying municipalities that have disproportionately high rates of firearm violence or homicide, and shall develop a list of such municipalities, based on the application of identified criteria. The list shall be published on the department's Internet website, and shall be revised and updated as necessary, on at least an annual basis.

b. The commissioner shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this section. Such rules and regulations shall identify, at a minimum, the criteria that the department will use, pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection a. of this section, to determine which of the State's municipalities have a disproportionately high rate of firearm violence or homicide.

c. As used in this section:

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Health.

"Department" means the Department of Health.

"Hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program" means a program that is operated by a hospital, or by a person or entity who is contracted by the hospital, and which works to end cycles of violence through the provision of intensive counseling, case management, and social services to patients in the hospital who are recovering from gunshot wounds and other injuries resulting from violence.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would provide that any hospital in the State, which provides services in a municipality that has a disproportionately high rate of firearm violence or homicides, may not be designated as a Level One or Level Two trauma center, under the provisions of P.L.2013, c.233 (C.26:2KK-1 et seq.) and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto, unless the hospital operates or contracts with a hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program that provides appropriate counseling, case management, and social services to patients who have been injured as a result of violence. Any such hospital that, as of the bill's effective date, was already designated as a Level One or Level Two trauma center, will be required to establish or contract with a hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention program within one year after the bill becomes effective, or will have its designation revoked.

For the purposes of enforcing the bill's provisions, the Commissioner of Health would be required to establish criteria to be used in identifying municipalities that have disproportionately high rates of firearm violence or homicide, and would further be required to develop a list of such municipalities, based on the application of such identified criteria. The list is to be published on the Internet website of the Department of Health, and is to be revised and updated as necessary, on at least an annual basis.

Many U.S. hospitals see a "revolving door" of gunshot injuries, as patients who have been shot are at a very high risk of being violently reinjured and perpetrating retaliatory violence themselves. In some urban hospitals, up to 45 percent of patients treated for violent injuries like gunshot wounds are re-injured within five years, and up to 20 percent of those patients are killed in the five year period following discharge. Hospital-based or hospital-linked violence intervention programs (HVIPs) work to break these cycles of violence by providing intensive counseling, case management, and social services to patients who are recovering from gunshot wounds and other violent injuries. Multiple case studies and controlled trials have shown that HVIPs are highly effective at reducing patients' rates of violence and re-injury. Moreover, because HVIPs effectively reduce the likelihood that patients will be re-hospitalized or will perpetrate violence in the future, they have also been associated with substantial cost savings in health care.