Nursing homes and assisted living facilities will have to prove they’ll be ready to respond to the next disease outbreak by producing a response plan the Health Department must approve under a bill Gov. Phil Murphy signed Thursday.
The deadly coronavirus outbreak has claimed the lives of 7,882 long-term care residents and 144 staff members, according to the state Health Department COVID data dashboard. New Jersey has had one of the highest death tolls in the nation among long-term care residents.
The new law requires facilities to submit an outbreak response plan within six months, including a strategy to secure more staff in the event of an outbreak or other emergency, according to the legislation (S2798). The facility also will have to conduct an annual training exercise that shows the facility can implement the outbreak plan.
The original legislation called for one more level of protection: hiring a physician who is certified as an infection preventionist on a part-time or full-time basis, depending on the facility’s size. But the long-term care industry successfully lobbied to reduce this requirement to hiring a consultant by Feb. 1, 2022. And, if after that time, the nursing home or assisted living facility has made a “good-faith effort” to hire a part-time or full-time preventionist and still cannot find one, the state could waive the requirement, according to the amendment.
“Finding an infection preventionist is difficult, but our facilities have been working on this for many months,” said Andrew Aronson, CEO of the Health Care Association of New Jersey. “We appreciate the administration and the legislature on this bill.”
The Legislature passed and the governor signed a law requiring outbreak response plans for long-term care facilities that are licensed to provide care to residents on ventilators, after a deadly adenovirus outbreak killed 11 children at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell. It has since been sold and renamed the Phoenix Center for Rehabilitation and Pediatrics.
The new law will require long-term care facilities to provide an outbreak response plan.
“Going forward, this law will ensure our state’s long-term care facilities are fully equipped, staffed and prepared to respond to future outbreaks,” Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, a prime sponsor of the bill with Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington.
“COVID-19 has taken an immense toll on our long-term care community. This community is comprised of some of our state’s most vulnerable residents. The state and the facilities must do better.”
There were 45 long-term facilities with active COVID outbreaks as of Thursday, with 101 residents and 81 infected, according to state data.
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Susan K. Livio may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.
