Bill > S2378

Introduced Session

This bill would establish, within the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (authority), a COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program to provide for the redemption of eligible qualifying loan expenses of health care professionals in exchange for the professionals' ongoing provision of health care and administrative services at approved sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Approved site" is defined by the bill to mean a licensed hospital or dedicated part thereof wherein patients in New Jersey with COVID-19 are treated or housed in isolation and where there is an insufficient number or type of professional staff to ensure the provision of adequate care to those patients; and any other health care facility, building, room, tent, ship, or other location that is temporarily authorized and used, on an emergency or overflow basis, to provide isolated bed space or intensive, emergency, or other hospital-level care to patients with COVID-19 in New Jersey. "Health care professional" is defined to mean a licensed physician, nurse, physician's assistant, or other health care practitioner, or any person working in the area of hospital or health care facility administration, who is capable of providing needed health care services or health care-related administrative services, on a paid or unpaid, temporary, short-term, or long-term basis, at an approved site during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Health care professional" includes a licensed physician, nurse, physician's assistant, or other health care practitioner who would ordinarily be capable of providing health care services to COVID-19 patients at an approved site during the COVID-19 pandemic, but who is currently unavailable to provide those services because the health care professional is self-isolating or is subject to mandatory quarantine as a result of having contracted COVID-19, showing symptoms of COVID-19, or having been exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace. Any health care professional who is a resident of New Jersey would be eligible to participate in the COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program. The bill would require the authority to enter into a loan redemption contract with each eligible health care professional who applies to participate in the program, to the extent practicable. Each contract is to require the program participant to: 1) provide needed health care services or health care-related administrative services at an approved site, as may be deemed by the approved site to be necessary to fill its COVID-19 staffing needs and adequately serve and treat its patients with COVID-19, regardless of whether such services are within the program participant's ordinary scope of practice; 2) engage in the provision of necessary services, as required by the bill, for a consecutive period of at least 12 months or until a COVID-19 vaccine is made available to residents of New Jersey, whichever is later; 3) charge for professional services at the usual and customary rate prevailing in the area in which the approved site is located and in a manner that is consistent with the charging practices of the approved site and all State and federal laws; charge a Medicare beneficiary no more than the limiting fee for a service, as determined by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; and allow a patient with COVID-19 who is unable to pay for services at the usual and customary rate to pay at a reduced rate or to receive services at no charge; and 4) not discriminate against any patient in the provision of COVID-19-related health care services on the basis of: a) the patient's ability to pay or source of payment; or b) the patient's actual or perceived age, sex, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion, marital status, familial status, or mental or physical disability. The contract is to additionally: 1) specify the program participant's dates of required service, the total amount of eligible qualifying loan expenses that are to be redeemed by the State in return for service, and the schedule for loan redemption, which is to be established by the authority and uniformly applied to all program participants; and 2) stipulate that the applicant has knowledge of and agrees to both comply with performance standards established by the authority's executive director and participate in a four-week probationary period required by the bill. A participant in the program would be eligible for redemption of up to 50 percent of the program participant's eligible qualifying loan expenses; however, the total amount of qualifying loans redeemed by a program participant may not exceed the maximum amount authorized by the federal government, pursuant to section 338I of the "Public Health Service Act," 42 U.S.C. s.254q-1. The authority, in consultation with the Department of Health, may establish other general limits, as deemed thereby to be appropriate, on the total amount of qualifying loans that may be redeemed by program participants. A person who is already participating in: 1) the federally administered National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, established pursuant to section 338B of the "Public Health Service Act," 42 U.S.C.s.254 l-1; 2) the Primary Care Practitioner Loan Redemption Program, established pursuant to N.J.S.18A:71C-32 et seq.; or 3) any other similar health care-related loan redemption program will be eligible to participate simultaneously in the COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program, provided that such simultaneous participation is expressly disclosed and is authorized by the authority in the loan redemption contract. A program participant will only be eligible to redeem eligible qualifying loan expenses under the COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program to the extent that those expenses are not already eligible for redemption under one of these other programs. Under the bill's provisions, no amount of qualifying loan expenses may be redeemed by a program participant if contracted services are provided for a period of time that is less than that the term of service required by the bill and contract. However, a health care professional may not be penalized or prevented from applying for or obtaining loan redemption under the bill, and may not be subject to any reduction in the amount of qualifying loan expenses redeemed under the program, solely on the basis that the health care professional is or was unable to provide necessary services, for any portion of the requisite term of service, because the professional was isolated or under mandatory quarantine as a result of having contracted COVID-19, showing symptoms of COVID-19, or being exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace. The authority's executive director, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, will be required to match contracted program participants with appropriate approved sites throughout the State. Primary consideration is to be given to the placement of program participants at approved sites in the State that have the highest numbers of patients with COVID-19 and insufficient staff available to effectively and efficiently handle those patients. To the extent practicable and consistent with meeting Statewide needs, each program participant is to be matched with an approved site that is located within close proximity to the program participant's residence. Other factors to be considered in matching program participants with approved sites may include: 1) the preferences of the program participant; 2) statistical data projecting future regional and individual site needs in association with the COVID-19 pandemic; or 3) any other factor deemed by the executive director or the commissioner to be relevant. Any program participant who nullifies the loan redemption contract before completing the full term of service, as required by the bill and contract, will not be entitled to receive any loan redemption benefits under the program, and will be required to repay any previously redeemed portion of indebtedness, with 50 percent of the redeemed portion of indebtedness being repaid within one year after the contract is nullified. If a program participant dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled, the authority will nullify the service obligation of the program participant, and the authority's obligations will terminate, except that, if the program participant's death or total and permanent disability occurred as a result of COVID-19 infection contracted while working at an approved site under the program, the program participant or the program participant's estate, as appropriate, will be entitled to receive loan redemption in association with the term actually served by the program participant and will not be required to repay any portion of indebtedness that was redeemed during the period that preceded the program participant's death or disability. The authority may also nullify the program participant's contractual obligations in cases of extreme hardship. The bill authorizes the authority's executive director, as determined thereby to be appropriate, and within the limits of available funds, to make payments in a reasonable amount to reimburse a program participant for all or part of any increased tax liability that is incurred by the participant, pursuant to the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act," N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., as a result of the redemption of eligible qualifying loan expenses under the COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program. Any person who knowingly or willfully furnishes any false or misleading information for the purpose of receiving loan redemption benefits under the COVID-19 Exemplary Service Loan Redemption Program will be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.

Committee Categories

Tom Kean (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 05/04/2020)