Sec. 8. (a) If a patient or the patient’s health care representative designates a lay caregiver, and provides the written consent and the other information described in section 7(c) of this chapter, the hospital shall, as soon as practicable before the patient’s discharge from the hospital, provide the patient or the patient’s health care representative with an opportunity to advise hospital personnel of a preferred means of contacting the lay caregiver.

     (b) If the patient or the patient’s health care representative advises hospital personnel of a preferred means of contacting the designated lay caregiver under subsection (a), the hospital shall, when attempting to contact a patient’s designated lay caregiver, attempt to use the preferred means of contact provided in subsection (a) if the preferred means of contact is permitted by the hospital and is readily available for use by hospital personnel when attempting to contact the lay caregiver.

     (c) If hospital personnel, in the exercise of their professional judgment, determine that a patient lacks the physical or mental capacity to accurately and timely notify the patient’s lay caregiver of the patient’s pending discharge or transfer to another facility, the hospital shall, within a reasonable time before the patient’s discharge or transfer, attempt to notify the patient’s lay caregiver of the pending discharge or transfer.

As added by P.L.137-2015, SEC.6.