N.J. Admin. Code § 8:43G-11A.4

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 8:43G-11A.4 - Designation of caregiver

(a) Following entry into a hospital and prior to discharge, a hospital's discharge planning team shall offer every patient, or the patient's legally authorized decision maker, an opportunity to designate a caregiver for after-care assistance tasks, in accordance with the patient's discharge plan and in a timeframe consistent with the discharge planning process set forth in this subchapter.

1. A patient may designate a caregiver in an advance directive pursuant to the "New Jersey Advance Directives for Health Care Act," N.J.S.A. 26:2H-53 et seq., or the "New Jersey Advance Directives for Mental Health Care Act," N.J.S.A. 26:2H-102 et seq.

(b) The hospital's discharge planning team shall promptly document the following in a patient's medical record:

1. Every attempt to elicit the designation of a caregiver;

2. Contact information for the caregiver, as follows:

i. Name;

ii. Address;

iii. Telephone number; and

iv. Relationship to the patient.

(c) In the event that the patient is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated upon entry into the hospital and does not have a legally authorized decision maker, following the patient's recovery of consciousness or capacity, and if it is in the best interests of the patient, as determined at the discretion of the patient's admitting physician, the hospital's discharge planning team shall provide the patient the opportunity to designate a caregiver within a given timeframe.

(d) A patient or the patient's legally authorized decision maker has the right to:

1. Decline the designation of a caregiver; or

2. Change or revoke the caregiver at any time prior to discharge.

(e) For a patient who is a minor child, the following applies:

1. Where the patient has been assigned one custodial parent, the custodial parent has the right to designate the caregiver; and

2. Where the patient's parents have joint custody, the parents shall mutually designate the caregiver.

(f) The discharge planning team shall advise the patient and the caregiver that the caregiver is not obligated to perform any after-care assistance for the patient if the caregiver declines the designation.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:43G-11A.4

Adopted by 50 N.J.R. 528(a), effective 1/16/2018