1. a. The Commissioner of Health, subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, shall designate Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center, each, as the State‘s specialty acute care children’s hospitals for Monmouth and Ocean counties, subject to the commissioner’s determination that each hospital meets all of the licensure criteria that apply to a children’s hospital and has met and complied with all of the requirements to obtain State authorization to offer the component services that constitute a children’s hospital. The commissioner’s determination and the designation pursuant thereto shall be made separately for each hospital; and the commissioner’s decision on the designation of each hospital shall be made independently of, and shall not be contingent upon, the decision on the designation of the other hospital.

b. The designation of each hospital by the Commissioner of Health pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be made subsequent to, and shall be contingent upon, the execution of written transfer agreements, respectively, between: Jersey Shore University Medical Center and a majority of the acute care hospitals providing inpatient pediatric services located in Monmouth and Ocean counties; and Monmouth Medical Center and a majority of the acute care hospitals providing inpatient pediatric services located in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

The written agreement shall state that the other facility recognizes Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Monmouth Medical Center, as applicable, as the State’s specialty acute care children’s hospitals for Monmouth and Ocean counties and shall set forth the basis on which the other facility shall make referrals to Jersey Shore University Medical Center or Monmouth Medical Center, as applicable.

L.2005, c.116, s.1; amended 2012, c.17, s.218.