PHILIP D . MURPHY Governor
SHEILA Y . OLIVER Lt . Governor
September 4 , 2018
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH DIVISION OF EPIDEMIOLOGY , ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PO BOX 369 TRENTON , N . J . 08625-0369
www . nj . gov / health
SHEREEF M . ELNAHAL , MD , MBA Commissioner
Dear Health Officer :
The New Jersey Department of Health is pleased to announce that funds are available from the Hepatitis Inoculation Fund for the reimbursement of costs of hepatitis B inoculations for certain emergency medical technicians , firefighters and police officers . The funds are a continuation of monies already distributed for this purpose between 1996 and 2017 in accordance with N . J . A . C . 8:57B .
Each municipality may receive up to $ 5,000 in reimbursement for the cost of protecting its emergency medical technicians , firefighters and police officers against hepatitis B . Payments of funds to municipalities will be based on the collection of state forfeiture recoveries from confiscated property that had been involved in illegal activity . Under the adopted rules , first preference will be given to municipalities with volunteer EMTs and volunteer firefighters . Second priority will be given to municipalities with a combined total of fewer than 100 EMTs , firefighters and police officers . Finally , municipalities with more than 100 emergency services workers will receive funding .
To ensure equal access to the available money , the Department may assign applicants a number and hold a lottery to determine in what order municipalities receive funding . All first priority municipalities will receive money before second and third priority municipalities can be reimbursed . If funds are depleted at any point , distributions will stop until more money is available . Reimbursements will then continue in the order established by the lottery . Reimbursements cannot be made if the individual has already been reimbursed under this program . Additionally , a municipality shall not claim expense reimbursement for a covered individual whose medical insurance pays for the full cost of the hepatitis inoculation , but may claim expense reimbursement for any portion of the cost disallowed by such medical insurance .
Each interested applicant municipality shall appoint a liaison who will be responsible for preparing and submitting an application to the Division of Epidemiology , Environmental and Occupational Health on behalf of all emergency services personnel within its jurisdiction . Applications received by the Division directly from individual first aid and rescue squads , fire companies , departments and districts , and police departments or their members and / or staff shall be disallowed . The actual reimbursable costs allowed , not to exceed $ 5,000 per municipality , will be based on the cost of the hepatitis B vaccine and the fees of professional medical services for administration of the vaccine .
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