52:9E-8. Establishment, maintenance of central registry

8. a. The commission shall establish and maintain, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Senior Services, a central registry of persons who sustain spinal cord injuries other than through disease, whether or not the injury results in a permanent disability, in order to provide a database that indicates the incidence and prevalence of spinal cord injuries and which will serve as a resource for research, evaluation and information on spinal cord injuries and available services.

b. The commission shall require the reporting of all cases of spinal cord injuries, except those caused through disease, and the submission of specified additional information on reported cases as it deems necessary and appropriate.

The commission shall, by regulation, specify the health care facilities and providers required to make the report of a spinal cord injury to the registry, information that shall be included in the report to the registry, the method for making the report and the time period in which the report shall be made.

c. The reports made pursuant to this section are to be used only by the commission and the Department of Health and Senior Services and such other agencies as may be designated by the commission or the department and shall not otherwise be divulged or made public so as to disclose the identity of any person to whom they relate; and to that end, the reports shall not be included under materials available to public inspection pursuant to P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.).

d. No individual or organization providing information to the commission in accordance with this section shall be deemed to be, or held liable for, divulging confidential information. Nothing in this section shall be construed to compel any individual to submit to medical, commission or department examination or supervision.

e. A health care facility or health care provider who is required to report a spinal cord injury to the commission that fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be liable to a penalty of up to $100 per unreported spinal cord injury case. A penalty sued for under the provisions of this section shall be recovered by and in the name of the commission and shall be deposited in the "New Jersey Spinal Cord Research Fund" established pursuant to this act.

L.1999,c.201,s.8.