3. a. The Commissioner of Health, subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, shall designate Cooper University Hospital in the City of Camden as the State‘s specialty acute care children’s hospital in southern New Jersey for the counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem.

b. The designation 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 a written agreement between Cooper University Hospital and a majority of the acute care hospitals providing inpatient pediatric services which are located in the counties listed in subsection a. of this section.

The written agreement shall state that the other facility recognizes Cooper University Hospital as the State’s specialty acute care children’s hospital for the counties listed in subsection a. of this section and shall set forth the basis on which the other facility shall make referrals to Cooper University Hospital.

L.1987, c.299, s.3; amended 1992, c.181, s.3; 2005, c.116, s.2; 2012, c.17, s.214.