26:2H-132.1 End-of-life care public awareness campaign.

1. a. The Commissioner of Health shall establish a public awareness campaign to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making in relation to end-of-life care.

b. The commissioner, in establishing the public awareness campaign, shall develop outreach efforts and provide information and educational materials to the general public on various end-of-life care topics including, but not limited to:

(1) how to effectively conduct advance care planning conversations with family members, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and other individuals involved in a patient's care, regarding personal goals, preferences, and the type of care desired during the final stages of the patient's life ;

(2) how community leaders and members can appropriately, and in an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically sensitive way, facilitate community-wide discussions regarding advance care planning and end-of-life care;

(3) definitions, procedures, and other information related to advance directives, established pursuant to P.L.1991, c.201 (C.26:2H-53 et seq.);

(4) the differences between the two types of advance directives, namely proxy directives and instructive directives;

(5) the importance of having an advance directive, or advance directives, and the differences between advance directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms;

(6) definitions, procedures, and other information related to POLST forms, established pursuant to P.L.2011, c.145 (C.26:2H-129 et seq.);

(7) standardized and approved definitions of, and differences between, palliative care, hospice care, comfort care, and other end-of-life-care terms; and

(8) any other topics or matters related to advance care planning and end-of-life care as the commissioner may deem necessary.

c. Information provided under the public awareness campaign shall be disseminated using ethnically, culturally, and linguistically appropriate means, in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity and sensitivity for ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences. Where feasible and appropriate, the information shall be made available in a variety of languages.

d. As necessary, the commissioner shall partner with, and expand upon, community-based initiatives and training programs that educate the general public on advance care planning and end-of-life care.

L.2019, c.315, s.1.