New Jersey Department of Health
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1947 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | New Jersey |
| Headquarters | Market and Warren Streets, Trenton, New Jersey 08611 |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | http://www.state.nj.us/health/ |
The New Jersey Department of Health is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey. New Jersey's State Board of Health was established in 1877. Its administrative functions were vested in the Department of Health, which was created in 1947. In 1996, the latter was renamed the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). In 2012, senior services programs moved back into the Department of Human Services, and DHSS again became the Department of Health. Cathleen D. Bennett has been the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health since August 3, 2015.
The department oversees numerous types of health facilities, for example hospitals, family planning, psychiatric hospitals, drug abuse treatment, primary care facilities, nursing homes, hospice care, assisted living, adult day care, and therapies and tests such as hemodialysis. There are four branches: Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, Office of Population Health, Health Systems, and Public Health Services. The department regulates medical marijuana in the state. Although it allows edibles to be cooked at home, it does not allow dispensaries to sell or manufacture edibles.
In 2006, New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services began licensing private medevac helicopter companies to supplement State Police helicopters. In December 2007, the Public Health Council of New Jersey approved the first state policy in the United States mandating flu vaccines for all New Jersey children, in order for those children to be allowed to attend preschools and day-care centers.
The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services approved the decision of Memorial Hospital of Salem County on April 1, 2014. The health department noted that the hospital had only one obstetrician at the staff, and births at the hospital had dropped from 385 in 2004 to 155 in 2012. As a condition of the closure, the hospital was still required to transport patients to other inpatient maternity services, or provide emergency stabilization to women arrive pregnant, and delivery in cases where birth is imminent. A local healthcare union spoke out against the decision, and Health Professionals and Allied Employees argued the closure would negatively affect local income-women. In the end of May 2014, the hospital closed its maternity ward.
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