PHILIP D. MURPHY Governor
SHEILA Y. OLIVER Lt. Governor
September 4, 2018
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIVISION OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PO BOX 369 TRENTON, N. J. 08625-0369
www. nj. gov / health
SHEREEF M. ELNAHAL, MD, MBA Commissioner
Dear Health Officer:
The New Jersey Department of Health is pleased to announce that funds are available from the Hepatitis Inoculation Fund for the reimbursement of costs of hepatitis B inoculations for certain emergency medical technicians, firefighters and police officers. The funds are a continuation of monies already distributed for this purpose between 1996 and 2017 in accordance with N. J. A. C. 8:57B.
Each municipality may receive up to $ 5,000 in reimbursement for the cost of protecting its emergency medical technicians, firefighters and police officers against hepatitis B. Payments of funds to municipalities will be based on the collection of state forfeiture recoveries from confiscated property that had been involved in illegal activity. Under the adopted rules, first preference will be given to municipalities with volunteer EMTs and volunteer firefighters. Second priority will be given to municipalities with a combined total of fewer than 100 EMTs, firefighters and police officers. Finally, municipalities with more than 100 emergency services workers will receive funding.
To ensure equal access to the available money, the Department may assign applicants a number and hold a lottery to determine in what order municipalities receive funding. All first priority municipalities will receive money before second and third priority municipalities can be reimbursed. If funds are depleted at any point, distributions will stop until more money is available. Reimbursements will then continue in the order established by the lottery. Reimbursements cannot be made if the individual has already been reimbursed under this program. Additionally, a municipality shall not claim expense reimbursement for a covered individual whose medical insurance pays for the full cost of the hepatitis inoculation, but may claim expense reimbursement for any portion of the cost disallowed by such medical insurance.
Each interested applicant municipality shall appoint a liaison who will be responsible for preparing and submitting an application to the Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health on behalf of all emergency services personnel within its jurisdiction. Applications received by the Division directly from individual first aid and rescue squads, fire companies, departments and districts, and police departments or their members and / or staff shall be disallowed. The actual reimbursable costs allowed, not to exceed $ 5,000 per municipality, will be based on the cost of the hepatitis B vaccine and the fees of professional medical services for administration of the vaccine.
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