April 2025 | Source: Brach Eichler

As of April 2025, the healthcare legal landscape in New Jersey has changed drastically, making implications and nuances for Medicaid policies, HIPAA enforcement, and many legislative proposals. Brach Eichler LLC has captured these developments and issues; they will be important for providers and attorneys as they navigate the changing regulatory landscape.

Healthcare Law Updates in New Jersey

Best Practices for Writing AI-Assisted Manuscripts

Dr.Nanci | Research design and Mixed Methods Research.

30 Jan, 2025

Dr.Nanci | Research design and Mixed Methods Research.
30 Jan, 2025

April 2025 | Source: Brach Eichler

Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare Funding Adjustments

On February 25, 2025, Governor Phil Murphy proposed amendments to the state’s ambulatory care facility assessment to comply with the federal Medicaid provider tax guidelines. This proposed amendment would lower the assessment rate from 2.95% to 2.5% of a facility’s annual gross receipts and also propose to eliminate the current annual cap of $350,000. The goal is to produce more than $60 million in new revenue to support NJ FamilyCare, New Jersey’s Medicaid program, and to draw down more federal matching funds.

HIPAA Enforcement and Health Data Privacy

Expected revisions to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule proposals by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will require HIPAA-regulated entities to change their security obligations substantially, as it relates to current cybersecurity issues in the healthcare sector.
In New Jersey, efforts continue to develop state laws that are consistent with and strengthen federal HIPAA requirements to ensure adequate protection of health information. The proposed bills’ focus is on implementing requirements that protect patient data and continue to protect access to patient data for health care.

Legislative Trends: Expanding Access and Equity

Recently, New Jersey has showcased its commitment to enhancing healthcare access and working toward health equity through a couple of new laws related to healthcare delivery models and patient protections:

Hospital at Home Act: Bill A4914, New Jersey’s Hospital at Home Act, will allow hospitals to provide acute care services to patients at home through federal CMS programs. Insurance carriers, including Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare, will be required to reimburse these services, taking a further step toward patient-centered care.
Implicit Bias Training: Bill A5516 mandates implicit bias training for in-home health professionals to promote cultural competencies and reduce disparities in care delivery.

Medical Debt Relief: The Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act (laws 2024, Chapter 14), signed into law on July 22, 2024, provides protections for medical debt holders, including stopping debt from being reported to credit companies, and capping interest at 3% so patients are not further financially burdened.

Begin Your Clinical Research Journey With Us!

Implications for Healthcare Providers and Legal Professionals

The changing legal landscape requires participants in healthcare to act:

Compliance: Providers must know the latest regulations, especially for Medicaid programs, to meet new standards relating to billing and privacy (and other areas).
Training: New legislation, such as implicit bias training, must be implemented before meeting the legal requirement.

Financial Reporting: More detailed reporting is needed, and more accountability means that the systems of financial management must be more effective and better processes developed to ensure accurate reporting.

What This Means for Researchers

These webinars demonstrate exciting research opportunities at the intersection of healthcare, aging, and legal advocacy. Researchers can examine the effects of legal needs on the health of older adults and assess the effect of MLPs on care delivery and related policy.

How Pubrica Supports These Changes

Pubrica provides full research support from systematic reviews of legal-health integration to data analysis and manuscript development. We assist researchers in generating evidence-based understandings of elder legal care models to support significant scholarly and policy output.

Pubrica’s Viewpoint

Pubrica is aware that integrating legal services into the healthcare system is critical to ensure elder equity and improve clinical outcomes. We support interdisciplinary research that leads to ethical, scalable, and inclusive solutions to the legal-healthcare issues of older adults.

Conclusion

The upcoming webinars are a great opportunity for health professionals involved in caring for older adults to increase their understanding of the legal issues faced by this population. If attendees were to attend the webinars, they could learn much about implementing legal services in health and ways to provide better care and outcomes for older adults.

Register now to discover how bringing legal support into health systems can revolutionize elder care. This is an important opportunity for you to enhance your impact. don’t let it pass you by, reserve your spot today!