Articles Posted by Stephen A. Timoni

On March 18, 2019, New Jersey Governor Murphy signed and enacted Senate Bill Number 2773 , which clarifies the definitions of Health Care Service Firms and Homemaker-Home Health Aides. The bill was primarily sponsored by Senator Nellie Pou and was unanimously passed by the New Jersey Senate and Assembly. According to Senator Pou, “[t]his bill will ensure that all firms acting as health care agencies for our elderly, including the ones using the Internet to arrange and provide companions or health care services are properly registered. We need to ensure that adequate care is provided with registered and qualified caregivers at all times.” Health Care Service Firms are closely regulated by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Part of the regulation provides that these firms are required to provide comprehensive training, supervision and oversight to their caregivers who must be directly employed by the firm. In May 21, 2018 New Jersey passed legislation requiring Health Care Service Firms to become accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the New Jersey Department of Human Services and to submit to an audit conducted by a certified public accountant.

The recently enacted bill revises the previous law to clarify that any firm, company, business, agency or other entity that is not licensed by New Jersey as a Home Health Care Agency or Hospice which employs, places or arranges for the placement of or in any way refers an individual to provide companion, personal or health care services in the personal residence of a person with a disability or who is 60 years old or older, must register with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs as a Health Care Service Firm. The bill further stipulates that the Division of Consumer Affairs is authorized to take enforcement measures upon any person who operates a firm that is subject to this Health Care Service Firm registration requirement, whether the operations include the direct employment of individuals, the use of an Internet website or application, or any other process or business model.

In addition, the bill imposes a penalty of $500 per day, for each day that the person continues to operate a firm without registering as a health care service firm as required.

Stephen A. Timoni is quoted in a recent issue of ROI-NJ.  Steve says, “The medical field is very interesting right now.  And I think it’s going to get even more interesting as the rapidly changing dynamics of healthcare continue to unfold. Practices have learned that they can no longer promise to waive copays or deductibles under this law, with some exceptions.  That’s where it leads to some gray areas: How aggressive do you need to get to collect balances?” he said.  We don’t know answer to that. But, certainly, the burden is on out-of-network physicians providing services.”

Often, physician groups find a solution to these complications in just merging in with health systems or other large in-network providers, Timoni said.  But, even if that has been the answer for some time now, the industry’s constant reconfiguring means one can never safely predict what will continue to be true going forward.

You can read the full ROI-NJ article here.