NJ A591

New Jersey hospitals would be prohibited from advertising level-one or level-two pediatric emergency department services unless they meet specific staffing and facility requirements established by the bill.

Level-one pediatric emergency departments must maintain a separate, designated space exclusively for pediatric patients, operate 24/7 with qualified pediatric emergency physicians, and maintain both pediatric inpatient and pediatric intensive care units.

Both level-one and level-two departments must have a board-certified pediatric emergency medicine physician as director and a certified pediatric emergency nurse as nurse manager, with neither permitted to hold the same position at another facility.

Hospitals must maintain formal consultative relationships with multiple pediatric subspecialists (including endocrinology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, and others) who must be available within one hour of consultation requests.

The Department of Health must compile pediatric emergency registry data from hospitals and include hospital-specific pediatric emergency care information in its annual New Jersey Hospital Performance Report.