New Jersey § 26:2h-12

§ 26:2h-12.

a. There is established in the Department of Health the Long-Term Care Emergency Operations

Center (LTCEOC), which shall serve as the centralized command and resource center

for long-term care facility response efforts and communications during a declared

public health emergency affecting or likely to affect one or more long-term care facilities. The LTCEOC shall enhance and integrate with existing State, county, and local emergency

response systems. b. The Department of Health shall have primary responsibility for the operations of

the LTCEOC, but the Department of Human Services and other appropriate State agencies

shall provide any staff support as shall be requested by the Commissioner of Health. The Commissioner of Health may additionally contract with a third party entity to

provide staffing services as needed. At a minimum, the Commissioner of Health shall ensure that the LTCEOC has on call

at all times such appropriate staff and consultants as are needed to respond to a

declared public health emergency affecting or likely to affect one or more long-term

care facilities, including representatives from county and local boards of health,

the Office of the New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and the Office of Emergency

Management in the New Jersey State Police, the acute and post-acute health care industry,

as well as experts in public health, infection control, elder affairs, disability

services, emergency response, and medical transportation. c. The primary responsibilities of the LTCEOC shall include, but shall not be limited

to: (1) establishing ongoing, direct communication with the owners and staff of long-term

care facilities, unions, advocates representing residents of long-term care facilities

and their families, individuals with expertise in the needs of people with specialized

health care needs, and such other stakeholders as the Commissioner of Health deems

necessary and appropriate during a public health emergency affecting or likely to

affect one or more long-term care facilities, which may include the use of existing

communication mechanisms and feedback loops in the Department of Health's Office of

Disaster Resilience or Health Systems branch, as appropriate; (2) providing technical assistance to the long-term care industry during the public

health emergency, which may be facilitated through local health departments; (3) ensuring supplies and equipment needed to respond to the public health emergency

are acquired and distributed in an effective and efficient manner among long-term

care facilities; (4) utilizing the National Healthcare Safety Network database managed by the federal

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to: (a) identify and respond to critical staffing shortages in long-term care facilities; (b) if applicable, identify and respond to critical personal protective equipment

or ventilator shortages in long-term care facilities; (c) monitor facility capacity; and (d) if applicable, monitor infectious disease case counts and deaths by facility;

and (5) ensuring all policies and guidance developed by the Department of Health in response

to the public health emergency are effectively communicated to all long-term care

industry stakeholders. d. In the event of a public health emergency declared in response to an infectious

disease outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic affecting or likely to affect one or more

long-term care facilities, the LTCEOC, in consultation with other offices within the

Department of Health and the Office of Emergency Management in the New Jersey Division

of State Police, shall determine the need for the establishment of regional hubs capable

of accepting patients who have, and are capable of transmitting, the infectious disease

and who do not require hospitalization, which hubs shall comply with State and federal

guidance regarding infection control practices related to the infectious disease. In the event of a surge in number of identified cases of the infectious disease,

the LTCEOC shall actively monitor capacity levels at long-term care facilities and

at regional hubs established pursuant to this subsection, if any, using the National

Healthcare Safety Network database managed by the federal Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, and shall take steps to direct patient placements as necessary to

manage capacity levels and ensure, to the extent possible, that no regional hub or

long-term care facility exceeds safe capacity levels. e. As used in sections 1 through 5 of P.L.2020, c. 87 ( C.26:2H-12.90 through C.26:2H-12.94 ), “ infectious disease ” means a disease caused by a living organism or other pathogen, including a fungus,

bacteria, parasite, protozoan, virus, or prion. An infectious disease may, or may not, be transmissible from person to person, animal

to person, or insect to person.