a. A substantial proportion of nursing home residents do not need the level of medical care provided in skilled nursing or intermediate care facilities, and to the extent these inappropriate placements occur, there are adverse financial and social consequences;

b. After entering a nursing home, many residents become dependent on that facility, experiencing depletion of their financial resources and erosion of their social contacts in the community;

c. Inappropriate placements of residents in skilled nursing or intermediate care facilities result in reduced access to available beds for those Medicaid recipients who are actually in need of nursing home care;

d. It is, therefore, in the best interests of the citizens of New Jersey that a nursing home preadmission screening program, as currently operates in 30 other states, be established Statewide to determine the needs of Medicaid-eligible and other individuals seeking admission to a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility, prior to placement in that facility.

L. 1988, c. 97, s. 1.