"Dementia Dignity and Advance Care Planning Act."

New section 5(a) deems a DSAD to be a form of instruction directive under P.L.1991, c.201 (C.26:2H-53 et seq.), subjecting it to all rights, duties, and protections of the existing advance directive statute. This anchors the new DSAD within the current legal framework rather than creating a standalone regime.

New section 5(b) provides that nothing in the act invalidates, replaces, or supersedes a previously executed advance directive unless the declarant expressly states otherwise, protecting existing directives from being inadvertently overridden.

New section 6 establishes rules for handling multiple directives: the most recently executed directive controls (6a); a DSAD governs only decisions arising from dementia or related neurodegenerative conditions and does not control unrelated medical decisions unless expressly stated (6b); other diagnosed conditions are not precluded from consideration (6c); and in irreconcilable conflicts, the designated health care representative interprets directives per existing law (6d).

The original mandatory requirement that every licensed hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, and hospice incorporate DSAD education into patient intake and care planning processes is removed. It is replaced with a provision making the training programs optional for health care professionals and long-term care staff, with clinicians who provide dementia care able to earn continuing medical education credits.

The formal definition of 'advanced dementia' in section 3 is struck through and deleted. The bill no longer provides a statutory definition specifying that the individual is permanently unable to communicate meaningfully, recognize loved ones, or perform basic activities of daily living without total assistance.

Sections 5 through 10 of the introduced bill are renumbered as sections 7 through 12 in the committee report to accommodate the two new sections (5 and 6) inserted before them.