SWEENEY OFFERS INFECTION PREVENTION & CONTROL PLANS FOR NURSING HOMES

October 19, 2020

Trenton – The state would develop an infection prevention and control plan for nursing homes according to legislation authored by Senate President Steve Sweeney that would have the state conduct an assessment of the current infrastructure to determine the upgrades needed to better protect the health and safety of residents and caregivers.

A companion bill would have state health officials develop infectious disease instructional programs for nurses who work in long-term care facilities. Both measures were introduced in the Senate today.

“We need a long-term strategy to ensure the nursing home industry in New Jersey is focused on the safety of residents and caregivers and the quality of services the facilities provide,” said Senator Sweeney. “This strategy should include design and construction standards for new facilities and for those undergoing significant modifications. The infrastructure has to promote and facilitate safe conditions so the practices and procedures are effective.”

The bill would have the Department of Health conduct a statewide assessment of the nursing home infection control and prevention infrastructure and, based on the findings, develop an improvement plan to prevent, contain and control the outbreak or spread of infectious diseases.

The plan would incorporate best practice standards in other states and establish specific goals and timelines for improvements that take into account the age of the facilities, the availability of land for expansion or new construction, the costs of improvements, and the authorizations that would be required.

The legislation lays out essential standards for review, including:

• A count of the total number of single-resident rooms in nursing homes, the percentage of beds that are utilized in single-resident rooms, and a review of the ability of nursing homes to expand single room capacity;

• A survey of the maintenance status of heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems in nursing homes;

• A study of the utilization of negative pressure rooms and other physical plant features intended to increase infection control and prevention capability; and,

• Any other infrastructure-related considerations recommended by the New Jersey Task Force on Long-Term Care Quality and Safety.

The department would be required to consult with the nursing home industry, including for-profit and non-profit facilities, groups representing direct care providers and support staff in nursing homes, resident advocates, and the families of residents.

The assessment would have to be completed within one year of the effective date of the bill. The Health Department would then be required to develop the infection control and prevention plan no later than 180 days after the assessment is completed.

The companion legislation would have the Department of Health work with the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology to develop an infection prevention course specifically designed for registered nurses and certified nurse aides employed in long-term care facilities.

Under the bill, the Health Department and the Board of Nursing would review the nursing curriculum to develop methods to encourage nurses to enroll in post-acute care residency programs and determine if the curriculum should be modified to better prepare them to work in the field. It would also require the department to review the certification curriculum for certified nurse aides and to partner with the long term care industry to develop a pilot program to develop standards for their professional advancement.

“This will incorporate more infection control training into the education of nurses and nurse’s aides who work in post-acute and long-term care facilities,” said Senator Sweeney. “It will also create a more robust pipeline of these caregivers to go into and remain in the long-term care industry.”

SWEENEY RECOMMENDS NJ’S PBM INITIATIVE TO MARYLAND LEGISLATURE

FEBURARY 27, 2020

Annapolis – Senate President Steve Sweeney today recommended New Jersey’s Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM) initiative to Maryland legislators who are seeking health care cost savings similar to New Jersey, noting that the Garden State will save over $2.5 billion through its reverse auction program.

Senator Sweeney, who sponsored New Jersey’s PBM legislation, spoke before the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee of the House of Delegates, which is considering legislation, HB1150, the State Health and Welfare Benefits Program – Maryland Competitive Pharmacy Benefits Manager Marketplace Act, modeled directly on New Jersey’s plan.

“The innovation to prescription drug purchasing we adopted features an online auction, powered by a cutting-edge, ‘big data’ analytics technology platform, to create a dynamic, truly competitive marketplace in which PBMs bid and counter-bid against one another to win the state’s business. Think of it as an ‘eBay’ for PBMs,” Senator Sweeney said in his testimony.

Senator Sweeney noted that the New Jersey model created “a competitive marketplace in which PBMs compete in a transparent, online auction” for the right to sell prescription drugs to the state at the lowest cost.

State government was able to use the same technology platform to conduct ongoing, automated and very fast review of prescription drug claims invoices, enabling the state to flag any overcharges within a few hours of invoice submission.

While original projections forecast PBM reverse auction savings of $1.6 billion over three years, the ultimate savings proved higher, Senator Sweeney pointed out.

“In September 2018, just 9 months into the first plan year under the new pharmacy benefits contract awarded through our PBM reverse auction, Governor Phil Murphy reported that the our technology-enabled PBM selection and accountability process had reduced pharmacy costs for state and local governments by over 25 percent.”

Active school employee members will see a sizable difference in their premiums for Plan Year 2019 with rates decreasing by 1.1 percent – in stark contrast to the 13 percent increase they saw last year – even before introduction of the new changes.

The Senate President praised his Senate and Assembly colleagues, leaders of the state’s public employee unions, America’s Agenda and officials in the previous Administration who partnered with him to make the PBM program savings a reality for over 750,000 public employees and family members.

Senator Sweeney offered to assist the Maryland legislators in implementing the New Jersey model.

SWEENEY PLAN WOULD PROVIDE STABLE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO NJ TRANSIT

February 21, 2020 

Trenton – Senate President Steve Sweeney today unveiled a plan to dedicate $500 million a year from the Corporation Business Tax, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Clean Energy Fund to New Jersey Transit’s operating budget, providing much-needed financial stability to the embattled agency.

“The absence of consistent funding for NJ Transit operations has undermined its ability to provide safe and reliable service,” said Senator Sweeney. “Dedicated funding will help prevent the diversion of resources needed to improve basic services so the agency can bring an end to the breakdowns, delays and service failures that have plagued the system far too long. 

“The uncertainty leaves an agency that requires stable funding at the mercy of fiscal conditions and political circumstances that can easily fluctuate. This has been a long-standing problem that needs a long-term solution,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland).

The plan calls for the constitutional dedication of $300 million a year from the Corporation Business Tax, $125 million from the New Jersey Turnpike, and $75 million from the Clean Energy Fund to NJ Transit. It would also place an outright ban on capital-to-operating transfers from state funding sources like the gas tax and sales tax, and put a hard cap on similar transfers from federal funds.

For NJ Transit to make desperately needed service and performance improvements the state needs to end the practice of diverting hundreds of millions of dollars away from the capital projects, said Senator Sweeney.

“Capital-to-operating transfers are like eating your seed corn,” Senator Sweeney said. “The reason our trains and buses break down so much is that we don’t have the capital dollars needed to replace them on a timely basis. We need to put capital dollars into capital. That’s the only way we can expand mass transit ridership to the levels we can and should achieve in the most densely populated state in the nation.”

Most major transit agencies in the nation have a dedicated source of operating funding that covers 50 percent or more of its non-farebox costs, NJ Transit gets just 1.6 percent of its revenue from dedicated sources.

“Investing in NJ Transit is one of the most important investments we can make to spur New Jersey’s economy, protect our housing values and improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans who depend on NJ Transit to get to work, to school, to shopping and doctor’s appointments, and back home every day,” said Senator Sweeney. “This is a comprehensive approach that shares the cost of NJ Transit’s dedicated operating revenue fairly.”

Senate President Sweeney’s plan would:

1. Dedicate $300 million a year from the Corporation Business Tax to NJ Transit’s operating budget by constitutional amendment. This will be accompanied by legislation amending the CBT surtax to keep it at 2.5% (11.5% combined) until the state makes its full actuarially required pension contribution in FY 2023. The extra 1% surcharge on companies making over $1 million is projected to raise $250 million to $300 million this year and rise in future years based on current collection patterns. Most of the tax is paid by out-of-state companies.

2. Dedicate $125 million annually in New Jersey Turnpike revenue currently going to NJ Transit’s operating budget on a permanent basis, either by constitutional amendment or statute. New Jersey’s motorists and the out-of-state drivers who pay a high percentage of Turnpike tolls have an interest in reducing traffic and increasing mass transit.

3. Dedicate $75 million annually from the Clean Energy Fund to NJ Transit’s operating budget on a permanent basis by constitutional amendment. The fund is a vital part of any strategy to meet our 2050 clean energy goals.

4. Prohibit the transfer of capital funds to operating expenses from state revenue source in the Transportation Trust Fund by constitutional amendment and put a hard cap on federal capital-to-operating transfers by statute.