The Consumer and Environmental Health Service in the Division of Epidemiology, Environmental, and Occupational Health of the Public Health Services Branch of the Department of Health, in consultation with the Public Health Council, announces the proposal of rulemaking at N.J.A.C. 8:58.  N.J.A.C. 8:58 identifies the diagnoses of occupational and environmental diseases, injuries, and poisonings that hospitals and health care providers are to report to the Department, and establishes the reporting procedures.  The Department is proposing to readopt N.J.A.C. 8:58, with amendments, repeals, and new rules.

Significant among proposed technical and substantive changes are the deletion of obsolete ICD-9 diagnosis codes, and the updating of diagnosis terminology for consistency with that used by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The proposal appears in the May 2, 2016 issue of the New Jersey Register.  The public has until July 1, 2016 to comment on the proposal.

Persons wishing to comment on the proposal other than at the public hearing must submit written comments either (1) electronically by July 1, 2016 to http://www.nj.gov/health/legal/ecomments.shtml or (2) by regular mail postmarked on or before July 1, 2016 to Joy L. Lindo, Director, Office of Legal and Regulatory Compliance, New Jersey Department of Health, PO Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360.

LexisNexis provides free online access to the New Jersey Register at http://www.lexisnexis.com/njoal. An unofficial copy of the proposal is also available from the Department’s website at http://nj.gov/health/legal/open.shtml.